Nobody's Home
by charmedrocks33
Summary: Spencer Hastings has been trying to get her life in order ever since Toby left her seven years ago. How will she handle seeing him again after all these years? Will the order stay the same or will she fall back under his spell and have her life turned upside down.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **Hey everyone. This is my first PLL Fanfiction, and I am very excited to be writing it for you all to read.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pretty Little Liars**.

This story will be an A/U style. The story jumps seven years into the future from around the time frame of when Spencer went into Radley Sanitarium, Toby did leave to look for answers about his mother's death, there is no –A. Allison is alive but her and the girls are not friends. This is a Spoby story. If I think of anything else, I will let you all know. Please enjoy!

* * *

Toby Cavanaugh smirked at the waitress who dropped off his beer on the side table, and watched as she moved around to the back of his chair. She placed her hands on his shoulders, massaging them gently. "Anything else I can do for you baby?"

Toby reached over to grab his beer and brought it to his lips before answering. "Beer is all I need for now, thanks."

"Look for me if you need anything at all." She whispered in his ear before moving away to another table of drunken men.

Toby did not reply, as his focus drawn to the empty stage. He checked his watch and then took another sip of his beer. Any minute the lights would dim; provocative music would begin to play through the speakers and the dancers would take their places on the stage. Normally Toby would never have agreed to going to a strip club, but a few of his fellow co-workers had convinced him that he needed to let loose and have fun. So here he was, waiting for these dances to work their magic and make him forget all his problems.

"Alright gentleman!" A voice rang through the speakers of the room. "The moment you have all been waiting for is about to begin! Sit back and enjoy these ladies because they sure enjoy being here to entertain you all every night!" As soon as his speech finished, music filled the room and the lights dimmed while the back curtains suddenly pulled apart. As the first set of girls walked out, the men in the crowd started yelling in excitement, some even standing up and making their way to stand as close to the runway as they could.

The girls had big smiles on their faces as they kept moving their bodies seductively to the music, making sure to make eye contact with each man they faced. After a few minutes, another set of girls made their way from the back curtains, walking down onto the main floor, they went up to random men whether they were sitting or standing, and started their strip show.

Toby watched intently as articles of clothes started to fall off their bodies. He quickly finished off his beer and stood up to get another from the bar. He knew he would need a few move in his system before he would be comfortable watching the show. "Hey man, let me get another Guinness." Toby said as he reached the bar. A second later, he had his beer and he threw some bills on the bar before walking back to his seat.

"Gentleman!" The voice returned as the music was only lowered a few notches. "I am pleased to introduce your main event for the evening! Autumn Jade!"

The stage suddenly turned dark and a new song started to play through the speakers. As the opening lines to 'S.E.X.' by Nickelback started to blare, the lights turned on and standing in the middle of the stage was Autumn Jade.

Toby watched mesmerized by the way, she danced to each beat of the song, slowly removing her jacket in a teasing manner. This girl was the reason he had come to the club tonight, according to his co-workers, she could bring any man to his knees with a glance of her deep brown eyes.

She had a smirk placed on her lips as she pulled her body close to the nearest pole, wrapping a leg around the middle and she twirled around sliding to the ground before grinding her body back to standing. The men in the room started shouting and hooting even louder as she slowly removed her top, revealing a black strapless bra.

Toby took a big swing of his beer as he continued to watch her every move on the stage. As another song began to play, she made her way off the stage and onto the main floor to join the other girls. She would walk to different tables and would tease the men by sitting on their laps, touching their faces, grinding to the music against their bodies before getting up and walking away, still keeping her smirk in place on her cherry lips. The men would slip bills into her bra, or her sexy black boy shorts that barely covered her ass.

Suddenly Toby was watching her walk over to him, he looked down at her high heels and his eyes slowly moved up her body taking in her gorgeous long legs, her tight mid-section and beautiful breasts. When his eyes finally looked up at her face, she was standing in front of him smiling. His eyes locked hers and for a moment, he felt that he knew this girl, those eyes looked so familiar to him. She broke his gaze as she went to sit on his lap, straddling his hips and slowly started grinding into him to the music. She put her arms around his neck, her hands running through his hair, her face close to his, teasing his lips with her own.

It took everything in Toby to leave his hands back at his sides after he slipped a few bills into her shorts and not have them roam her body. He took in her scent of vanilla and coconut as she leaned her body closer to his and whispered in his ear. "See you later pretty eyes." She said and slowly slid her body off his lap, her hand tracing his jaw line as she fully moved away from him, a sexy smirk appearing on her lips again. She turned her back to him and began to walk towards the stage again with the other girls as they all made their way to the curtains.

Once the girls had all disappeared into the backroom, the clubs regular music switched over and the lights went brighter again. Toby reached for his beer and finished the remaindered of it before standing up and making his way to the bar again. Once at the bar, he reached in his jacket and pulled out a card and pen. He quickly wrote on the back of the card and then folded it in half and returned the pen to his pocket. He scanned the floor and then made his way to the front by the stage. He was making his way to the waitress who served him earlier in the night; when he reached her, he tapped her shoulder.

"Hey, I need something from you before I leave." He said as he held out the card for her to take. "Can you give this to Autumn Jade?"

She raised an eyebrow at him, but took the card anyway. "Sure thing honey, I'll make sure she gets it before she leaves tonight. Do you have a name you want to leave with the card?"

"Card says it all." He said with a quick smile and turned to leave the club. Afterwards he made his way outside; he hailed a cab and left into the night.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: So here is Chapter 2. Hope you all enjoy it, if you do, please review. Thanks!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pretty Little Liars**.

**Chapter 2:**

"Hey baby doll! I don't know what you do to those men, but I swear we need to set you up with a mailbox to put all these numbers in." The blonde waitress that Toby had spoke with said as she placed the card on the booth before leaving to head back out to the floor.

Picking up the card, she quickly unfolded it and raised an eyebrow at what she saw. 'Meet me tonight at The Ritz Hotel' Flipping the card back around, she read the header of the card. 'Rosewood Police Department.' She placed the card back down on the booth counter and leaned back into her chair. After a few minutes of staring at the card, she got up and made her way to the bathrooms to change.

When she returned she had pulled her brown curls up into a messy ponytail, a fitted grey tank top now covered her strapless bra, worn out blue jeans fitted tight against her legs and her black flip-flops. She had her bag resting on her shoulder and as soon as she got back to her booth, she began putting her make-up and tips inside of it. She grabbed the card and placed it into her front pocket before turning to leave the room.

"Autumn Jade! The main event of this wonderful night! " Jamie, her boss and owner of the club shouted as she entered the room. "What can I do for you darling?"

"Hey Jamie, I'm just here to get my pay before I leave."

"Of course, of course, why else would you be in here with your street clothes on." He said laughing as he reached for a closed envelope and held it out for her to take. "You did great tonight, if you keep this up, I promise a bigger payout for you."

"Thanks James, I'll see you tomorrow night." She replied as she took the envelope and placed it safely within her bag.

Walking through the back hallways, she made her way to the exit door. Once outside, she started towards her car. She smiled as she pulled the keys out of her bag and unlocked the door, sliding into the driver seat. She let her hands rest on the steering wheel and she looked around the car. She inherited this car from her grandfather when he passed away. It was a 1967 maroon colored Ford Mustang, still in great condition because her grandfather rarely drove it. She had fallen in love with the car as a child and luckily enough for her, he remembered. She placed the key in the ignition and grinned when she heard the engine roar to life.

She shifted the car into drive and pressed on the gas to start moving out of the packed club parking lot. Once onto the main road, she decided to check out the The Ritz, even against the knot it made in her stomach. She arrived in the parking lot of the fancy hotel just ten minutes later. Shifting the car in park, she sat for a few more seconds, trying to slow down her breathing. Knowing that it would take all night for her to calm down, she grabbed her bag from the passenger seat and made her way out of the car.

She made the thirty steps to the front door, and then another ten to the front desk. "Hi, I'm supposed to be meeting one of your guests here tonight and—"She started but was quickly cut-off. "If you're meeting a guest most likely they are waiting in the cocktail room to the left." The man answered as he pointed to the left, before going back to reading his book ignoring her.

She stepped back from the counter and started towards the room on her left. When she entered soft classical music was playing in the backroom, and she started to scan the room for him. She finally spotted him sitting in the corner, his eyes deeply focused on the book that rested in his lap, his left hand holding a mug of coffee that was resting on the armrest of the chair. She took a moment to take in his appearance for the first time since she last saw him.

His brown hair was just the right length that she loved to run her fingers through, short on the sides, but longer on top, stopping right before his gorgeous blue eyes. His face had not changed at all; expect that he looked like he had not shaved in a few days. She was never a fan for facial hair, but she had to admit, on Toby, anything looked good. She noticed he was wearing a tight fitted black graphic tee and a pair of blue jeans to complete his look.

She took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as she forced her body to start walking towards the corner of the room.

As she got closer, he suddenly looked up and instantly made eye contact with her once again. His ocean blue eyes staring deep into her brown ones. He moved his coffee to the table, placed the book down as well, and stood up, shoving his hands into his front jean pockets.

She felt uncomfortable with the way he was trying to hold her gaze, so she looked down at her feet and crossed her arms in front of her, taking another deep breath. "When did you figure out it was me?" She asked softy as she looked back up at him.

"Pretty eyes." He simply said as he smiled. "Only Spencer Hastings calls me that."

"I only speak the truth."Spencer said with a small smiling pulling at the corner of her mouth. She paused for a moment before speaking again. "When did you get back?"

"A few months ago, I am in the process of buying my parents house in Rosewood. So for now, I've been staying here." Toby said, trying to read the expression on her face.

"So you're working at the police department?" She asked as she pulled the wrinkled card from her front pocket.

On the outside, she was looking friendly and strong, like a woman who knew no pain; but on the inside, her head was screaming at her to run back to the car and drive away. This man broke her heart and left her without answers for seven years and then he suddenly pops back in her life as if nothing happened. It took every ounce of her being not to shed any tears in front of him.

"Yeah, I'm actually working as a detective, got my promotion a little over two weeks ago."

Spencer's eyes widened at the news. "A detective? I never would have guessed. Maybe one day you'll tell me the story of how that career choice was made."

Toby was about to speak when a ringing of a cell phone cut him off. He watched Spencer reach into her bag and after looking for a few seconds, she pulled out the ringing phone. "Hold that thought." She said as she placed the phone to her ear.

"Hello? … I am fine; I am on my way out of the club now. It was a busy night…There is no need to wait up for me, go to sleep!" Spencer said as she rolled her eyes slightly and moved to walk away from Toby by a few steps. "I'll be home in less than twenty minutes...No, I am not staying for another show … Alright fine; I'll see you when I get home... Bye."

"Sorry about that." She offered as she walked back to standing in front of him.

"Overly protective boyfriend?" Toby asked as he tried to keep his jealously at bay. The thought of another man claiming her as his own made his stomach knot.

Spencer suddenly burst out laughing. "Overly protective roommate is more like it. Emily. She starts to get worried when I don't show up at the apartment within half hour after my shift."

Toby's stomach relaxed after hearing that Emily was the one who called moments ago, but his heart still raced as he noted that she did not address the boyfriend statement. "That sure does sounds like Emily. Do you all live together, you and the other girls?" He asked referring to Aria and Hanna; but also to try to pry some information about her dating life.

"No, could you imagine all of us trying to share one bathroom." She laughed a little before continuing. "It's just me and Em. Aria is married to Ezra now; they own a house in Rosewood and have a little boy who just turned five a few months back. Hanna and Caleb live here in Philly; they are supposed to get married in less than a month."

"Wow, I guess I did miss a lot while I was away. It's great to hear that you all are doing so well." He said as he rocked back on his heels.

Silence fell over the pair after a few seconds, and each began to speak at the same time.

"Can I call you tomor.."

"I should get going befo.."

They both laughed nervously and Spencer quickly spoke again. "I'm going to get home before Emily sends a search party." She was already taking some steps backwards towards the exit.

"Wait, Spence, I..." He said as he reached out with his hand to stop her, and then closed his mouth not saying what he wanted. When he spoke again, he was walking towards her retreating body. "Let me at least walk you out to your car, it's not safe at this time of night."

"I stopped worrying about me a long time ago." She stated, her gaze staring right into his eyes before she broke the contact and and turned on her heel, quickly leaving the room and Toby with his thoughts.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Moving right along, here is Chapter 3. If you like it, review it! Thanks! :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pretty Little Liars**.

**Chapter 3:**

Spencer could not remember a day in her life when she did not start her day off with a run. She loved waking up before the sun came up; it gave her a chance to take in all the beauty the park had to offer in the early morning hours. In addition, it allowed her to think about all that had happened days before.

When she got home that night after seeing Toby, Emily had been waiting up for her explanation of why she lied saying she was still at work. It seems Emily had called the club after their first phone call to tell her to get home. Jamie told Emily that she had left almost an hour ago. Spencer finally broke down and told Emily what had happened that night at the club.

_"Spencer! Why are you crying? What happened tonight?" Emily Fields hurried over to her best friend who suddenly broke out into tears on their couch. She pulled Spencer into a tight hug and let her sob softly into her chest, while she gently rubbed her back._

_"Toby's back."_

_The words escaped her lips and more tears began to fall. Spencer barely heard Emily take a deep sharp breath in, she did however feel Emily tighten her hug if that was even possible. "I am so sorry Spence. It's going to be okay, I promise." _

_After a few more minutes of tears falling, Spencer slowly pulled away from her friend, grabbing a tissue from the box on the coffee table. As she wiped her red and swollen eyes, she laughed softly._

_Emily raised an eyebrow, confused as to why she would laugh after just balling her eyes out._

_"Leave it to Toby Cavanaugh to stroll back into my life and after one conversation, not even the conversation we should have had mind you; I'm the one sitting in my living room an emotional wreck."_

_"I've seen the 'emotional wreck Spencer', and you are not that person anymore. The girls and I will not let you go back to that version ever again, I promise." Emily said and reached over, taking one of Spencer's hands into her own and gave it a squeeze. "So what happened tonight? How did he even find you?"_

_"I don't think he was there actually looking for me. To be honest I don't think he realized it was me until I opened my stupid mouth." She said as she grabbed another tissue and bringing it to her eyes._

_"Well what did you say to him?" She asked, but then shook her head. "On better thought, just start from the beginning."_

_Spencer began to explain how her night lead up to seeing Toby at the club. "And once I stepped off the stage, I could still feel eyes on me. I mean, half the men in the club had their eyes on me, but this felt different, more intense. As I was walking away from a table, I spotted him sitting on one of the couches and he was just staring at me. Before I knew what was happening, I was sitting in his lap, giving him a lap dance." She said as she covered her face with her hands to hide her embarrassment and to hide from Emily's shocked expression._

_"You gave him a lap dance! Spencer! What the hell were you thinking?" _

_"I don't know Em! I just... I saw him and the way he was looking at me, it was as if he was looking at me for the first time again. I couldn't stop myself from getting closer to him."_

_"I'd say you took closer to a whole different level." She said under her breath. "Hey! What was that for?" She yelled laughing as Spencer threw a couch pillow at her._

_"I heard you!" She explained as she laughed with her friend. "So anyway, as I was getting off of him, I told him I would see him later and that's when I'm sure he figured out it was me."_

_"Okay, I don't get it, how would you telling him see you later make him suddenly realize it was you?"_

_"I might have also added the phase 'pretty eyes' to the end of my sentence."_

_"You didn't!?" Emily asked with her mouth opened as wide as her eyes had gotten._

_Spencer nodded her head slowly. "I swear at that point, I saw it click in his head. His eyes changed from excitement and fun to a look of pure shock and confusion. Let's just say, those other girls are lucky that I didn't all but push them out of my way to get back to the dressing room."_

_"Okay, so after you went backstage, what happened?"_

_"Tammy came to find me, she had a business card that he left with her. The card asked me to meet him tonight at The Ritz Hotel. Therefore, I changed my clothes and drove out there to meet him. When I finally arrived, he was waiting for me in dining area; he told me that I gave myself away with my nickname for him. He also told me had been back for a few months and is buying his parents old house in Rosewood. Oh and to make things more interesting he is one of Rosewoods newest detectives." _

_"Wait, our Toby? A detective? How did he come across that career, I thought he wanted to be an architect." Emily asked looking more confused than a few moments ago._

_"Well, I most likely would have gotten an answer to that question, but my overly protective roommate thought it would be great timing to call and demand that I get my ass home." Spencer said with a sweet smile towards her friend._

_"Well, if you would have just called me and told me from the start that you were meeting him, I would have just waited for you to get back here. Instead, you did not call and I started to think the worse. You know how many perverts go to strip clubs and pick out their victims."_

_Spencer shot her a look. "Really Em? I took a self-defense class; I think I am more than capable of handing myself with harmless drunks at the club."_

_"Whatever you say Spence. Back to the issue at hand, what happened after I called?"_

_"Nothing."_

_"Nothing? C'mon what did he say?" _

_"No really, nothing. I told him that I had to leave and he offered to walk me to my car, I shot him down and left."_

_"Why wouldn't you let him walk you out? You guys could have talked more."_

_"Yeah, that's exactly what I was afraid would happen. I just could not risk him asking questions that are more personal that I am not ready to answer." She said as she hugged one of the couch pillows to her chest. "Did my mom call tonight?"_

_"Yeah, she said everything went great tonight and that she would see you tomorrow around 1:00." Emily said taking the hint and letting the Toby topic train end._

_"Okay." Spencer nodded and let out a deep breath. "I'm going to take a shower and hit the sack; this night just needs to be over with. Thanks for talking with me Em, I love you." She said as she moved closer to Emily and hugged her goodnight, then got up making her way out of the room._

_"Night Spence, Love you too."_

That was three days ago, and Spencer made sure to avoid all Toby talk every time Emily would try to bring up his name. Toby had called the apartment two days ago looking to take Spencer out for coffee so they could finish catching up. Spencer just deleted the message and pretended not to hear it against Emily's pleads for her to take him up on the offer.

So as it turns out, Emily met up with Toby for his coffee offer and they had planned the date for yesterday. According to Emily, it went so well that they ended up spending three hours at the coffee shop, filling each other in on the last seven years.

"_Good for them."_ Spencer thought as she pushed herself harder, knowing that no matter how fast she ran, her past would always be right behind her waiting or so she thought.

A few more minutes passed of Spencer going all out before she slowed down enough to a walk to catch her breath. As she looked ahead to map out her route home, she noticed him walking right towards her.

Spencer froze like a deer in the headlights when she saw Toby walking the path of the park. He was still a good fifty feet away from her when he suddenly stopped walking. Luckily, for her, his attention focused to a dog running towards him from the field. She watched as he kneeled down to the dog, pulled a ball from its mouth and stood as he quickly threw the ball back into the field.

As he started to walk more into the grass, she could hear him calling the dog back to his side as he clapped his hands. The dog excitingly raced back to him bearing the ball in his mouth, dropping it at Toby's feet, and then turned to start running again.

Spencer watched for a few more minutes as Toby moved farther into the field to play fetch with his dog. She noted how happy he looked, so at ease at this time in his life. She wondered what changed from the last time she saw him to now.

Just as quickly as she thought it, her answer arrived. A pretty red headed girl was making her way to Toby and his dog. She was more surprised when she watched Toby grin and pull the girl into his body, planting a kiss on her lips.

Her eyes widened and her hand flew up to her mouth to cover her shocked expression. She knew if she stood in the middle of the path any longer, Toby would see her standing there watching them. Turning on her heel, she quickly started running in the opposite direction of the couple.

Spencer finally arrived back at her apartment after pushing herself to the limits to get home as fast as possible. Standing outside the door, she wiped her eyes, during her run back; she had let her emotions get the best of her and she really did not want Emily asking questions. Taking a deep breath, she pulled off her armband that held her phone and removed the apartment key that was safely behind it. As she let her breath out, she unlocked the door and walked inside half expecting to see Emily waiting for her.

"Emily?" She called as she stepped further into the apartment and shut the door behind her. Not getting any response, she made her way to her bedroom. Once in the room, she got to her bed, and just collapsed onto it, burying her face into her pillow sobbing. She tightly closed her eyes, in attempt to make the tears stop. "_What did I do to deserve this?" _she thought to herself.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Chapter 4 has arrived! If you enjoy it, please review it! Thanks!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pretty Little Liars**.

**Chapter 4:**

"Spencer, wake up." Emily said softy as she gave her friend a small shake of her shoulder. "Your mom keeps calling the apartment wondering where you are."

"Hmm…what?" Spencer asked as she slowly opened her eyes and focused on Emily. "Who keeps calling?"

"Your mom. The message just said something about a dinner tonight and do not forget to bring the wine." Emily said shrugging her shoulders and moved off the bed.

"Dinner?" Spencer questioned, and then suddenly jumped off the bed. "Oh god, What time is it!?" She asked as she made a dash out of her room towards the bathroom.

"It's a quarter to six. What time were you supposed to be there?" Emily asked as she followed and stopped by the closed door.

"Like five minutes ago! My mother is going to kill me for being so late tonight." She said as she hopped into the shower.

"I have never known you to be sleeping in the middle of the day Spence, what happened?" Emily asked as she opened the door and leaned against the doorframe.

"I just went on a longer run than normal and was more wiped out than I thought." She said in a voice that sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than Emily.

"Are you sure that's all it was?"

"Really Em?" Spencer asked sticking her head out from behind the shower curtain to glare at her. "Why are you giving me the third degree?" she asked before disappearing back into the stream of hot water.

"I'm not giving you any degrees; I'm just worried about my friend."

"I'm fine; you don't need to keep worrying." She said as she turned off the water, reached a hand out and pulled a towel behind the curtain. A second later, she emerged from the shower with the towel wrapped around her body. "Really, I'm okay." She said after noticing Emily giving her an odd look.

"I don't believe you, but I'll let it go for now." Emily said as she shook her head, pulled herself away from the doorframe, and headed to her own bedroom.

Spencer ran a hand through her hair and let out a groan. "I don't have time for this." She muttered to herself and left the bathroom going back to her room. She quickly dried off and changed into a pair of black jeans and a red fitted three quarter length top. She pulled her hair into a messy bun and searched for her shoes.

Not finding them in her room, she made her way to the living room and looked around until she found them under the coffee table. "Now I need my phone." She said as she headed towards the kitchen, finding it sitting on the counter.

"Don't forget the wine!" Emily called from her bedroom, almost knowing that Spencer would forget it.

"Ah yes, the wine." Spencer said as she went to the wine rack and pulled one of the bottles. "Thanks Em! I'll see you later tonight." She called to her friend and made her way to the front door, grabbing her bag on the way.

The twenty-minute drive to her parent's house went a lot quicker than she wanted. She had hoped to have more time to come up with a way to tell Emily about what she saw at the park.

At the same time, she was not even sure about telling Emily anything. She knew that Emily would take the worrying to a completely different level and get the other girls involved. "_And I'm not ready to deal with Aria and Hanna at the same time."_

Spencer pulled into the Hastings driveway and found a spot next to Melissa's black Ford Explorer. She turned off the car and reached over to the passenger seat, grabbing her bag and the wine bottle before exiting the car.

She made the short walk to the door, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly before turning the handle and making her way inside. "Hello! Where is everyone?"She called as the door shut behind her and placed her bag on the side table.

"Living room!" Veronica Hastings called to her daughter.

Spencer followed the sounds of laughter to the living room. When she walked in, her parents were sitting on the couch with Melissa and her husband, Nick watching a program on the TV.

"Aunt Spencer!" A little voice called from behind her, grabbing the back of her legs. "When did you get here?"

"Just now silly." She said as she kneeled down smiling at her nephew.

"Did you miss me Aunt Spencer?" He asked as he threw his body into her arms.

"Course I did Jake. I haven't seen you since yesterday and it seems like you've grown a foot since then!" She said as she placed the wine bottle on the ground next to her and wrapped her arms around him quickly before pulling away so he could run into the living room.

"AHHHHHH!"

As quickly as Spencer heard the screaming, two laughing boys tackled her to the ground. "We got you! We got you!"

She laughed along with the boys and pulled them closer to her body, trying to tickle both of them at once. "I got you now!" She said and after a few minutes, she stopped, allowing them to stand in front of her. "What are with the pouts boys?" She asked with a smile as she watched them both hold their arms in front of their chests and stick out their bottom lips. It was always cute to watch the twins when they copied each other.

"You were suppose to be here hours ago grandma said."

"Yeah, you missed our soccer game. You said you would watch us play."

"Oh, well I am very sorry boys. How about we go in the living room and you tell me all about the game." She asked as she stood up, picked up the bottle of wine and tucked it under her arm. She then held out a hand for each of the boys to take.

"It's about time you arrived with that bottle." Peter Hastings said joking as he reached up to grab the bottle from his daughter when she paused in front of him before finishing her walk to the love seat.

"Yeah, I got held up at the apartment." She explained as she sat down in the middle of the love seat. Each of the boys taking a side and began to speak at the same time. "Whoa, slow down. One at a time. Tristan, you can go first."

"How come he gets to go first all the time?" Nathan asked as he crossed his arms again and leaned into Spencer.

"What about my day?" Jake asked running over to the trio and climb on the seat next to Tristan, feeling left out of the group.

"Wow boys, I didn't realize you all had such important things happen today. I would love to hear all of your stories but I don't know if we are going to have enough time since my tummy is growling for food." Spencer said as she placed a hand on her stomach and rubbed it to prove a point. "Who else is hungry?"

"Me!" All three boys shouted at the same time, raising their hands high in the air.

"Alright my crazy grandchildren, off to the dining room for dinner." Veronica said smiling as she waved the boys to follow her to the room.

Spencer watched all three happily follow her mother out of the room before turning her attention to Melissa and Nick. She watched Nick place his arm lovely around his wife's shoulder as they both stood up making their way to the dining room as well. She had to bite her lip to make sure she did not let any more tears fall for the evening; a worried roommate was all she could take for now.

She slowly made her way off the couch and into the next room. She sat down in the empty seat next to Melissa and rested her arms on the table.

"Wine Spence?" Peter asked as he pulled the cork out of the bottle.

"Do you really need to ask?" She joked as she picked up her glass and held it out towards his hand. She smiled as he handed it back and she quickly took a sip.

"So Spence, how is that apartment life treating you and Emily?" Melissa asked as she folded her napkin out onto her lap and turned her body slightly to face Spencer.

Doing her best to keep from rolling her eyes, she instead supplied Melissa with a tight smile. "We are doing great. How's that big house down by the beach treating you guys?"

"Girls, really?"Veronica said as she sat down at one end of the table. "Let's just have a civil dinner and you can argue over dessert if you're still feeling up to it."

"Dessert?" Nathan asked with a huge smile on his face. "What is it?"

"It's a surprise honey and I'll bring it out only if you finish all your veggies."

"I don't like my veggies grandma. They taste yucky." He said as stuck out his bottom lip again.

"I'm sorry Nate, than no dessert for you." She said firmly as she looked over at her daughter, who just nodded in agreement.

"They don't taste that bad Nathan. Watch grandpa eat his veggies." Peter said as he brought a fork full of food to his mouth. "Mmm, they taste great! Grandma made them super tasty bud."

Nathan watched his grandfather's expressions carefully and then picked up his own fork to bring some vegetables to his mouth. He still had a look of disgust on his face as he chewed and a few seconds later swallowed them down. "Can I have dessert now?"

The table laughed at his demand for dessert and Veronica stood up from the table smiling. "I'll go get it, but when I come back, more of those veggies need to be eaten from your plate."

"Here, How about you eat this section over here and I'm sure Grandma will let you have some dessert after that." Melissa said as she reached over and moved some peas and carrots to one side of the plate.

"Do I have too?" He asked, showing her his best puppy dog eyes he could muster up.

"Yes I'm sorry babe, you do." She said as she leaned back into her chair, bringing her wine glass to her lips.

Nathan just nodded as he brought another fork full to his mouth.

A few minutes later, Veronica returned with a pie in one hand and a plate of cookies in the other. "So did those veggies get eaten?"

"I ate a lot of them, so can I have some cookies now?"

"Hmm, let me take a look at that plate." She said as she walked over to his chair and kneeled down next to him. "It looks like you ate enough, so you can have one cookie."

"What about me grandma? I ate everything on my plate." Tristan said holding up an empty plate with a smile.

"Wow! You sure did my handsome boy. You may also have a cookie." She looked over at Jake and saw him trying to take a cookie off the plate. "Jake, have you eaten enough from your plate?"

He shook his head but did not let go of the cookie in his hand. "Can I have it anyway please? They got to eat one."

"Sure buddy. Eat it up quick before your grandmother takes it away." Nick said laughing as Jake almost shoved the whole thing in his mouth.

"Would it be okay if the boys play outside for a bit? I have to talk to you all about something." Spencer asked as she placed her glass down on the table and leaned forward in her chair.

"Sure. I'll get them set up outside and when I come back in, we can have that talk." Peter said as he stood from the table. "C'mon boys, let's go outside for a few."

The boys knew better than to question their grandfather and stood up quickly to follow him outside.

"Spencer, are you okay?" Her mother asked as soon as she heard the kitchen door shut.

"I'm fine. Let's just wait for dad." She said as she stood up and walked around the table to stand by the window. She watched her father talking to the kids and then he started to make his way back into the house.

Once her father was back at the table, Spencer took a deep breath and let it out slowly as she turned to face her family. Her father resumed his seat at the head of the table and grabbed his wine glass to hold in his hands. "What's going on Spence?"

"I know I should have said something when I first found out but..."She paused as she bit her lip to hold back the tears. "_Do not cry Spencer, not now."_ She told herself before continuing. "Toby is back in town."

"He's back? Have you talked to him? What does he want?" Her mother asked in a defensive tone as she crossed her arms tightly in front of her body.

"It doesn't matter what he wants. He is not getting involved in your life, you hear me? After what happened the last time, I will not have him put this family at risk again Spencer." Peter said angrily as he stood up from his chair, causing it to slide back from the force.

"Dad, I'm sure Spencer knows better than to get back together with Toby after all he has put her through." Melissa said trying to keep her father from blowing up the issue. "Right Spence?" she asked as she turned to glare at her younger sister.

Spencer nodded in agreement. "Trust me, I won't allow him to get that close again."

"Well did you at least talk to him to find out what brought him back after all these years?" Her mother asked again.

"He is working at the Rosewood Police Department as a detective." She spoke the last few words almost in a whisper.

"What did you just say? Speak up." Peter asked as he took a step towards her to hear her better.

Spencer groaned and brought her hands up to hide her face. She wished that she kept her mouth shut and let them all find out on their own.

"We are waiting Spencer." Her father spoke again. He was standing directly in front of her, as was her mother.

More seconds passed as Spencer remained silent.

"For heaven's sake Spencer, just tell us!" Melissa almost shouted at her as she stood up from her chair but did not move closer.

"A cop okay! He got a job as a fucking cop!" Spencer shouted aloud as she moved her hands from her face letting them drop at her sides.

She watched as her father's face turned red with anger, she could have sworn smoke was coming out of his ears. "Well that's just fucking great! What's stopping him from looking up all your records over the past seven years huh?" Peter yelled as he turned towards the table and slammed his fist down hard.

Spencer and Melissa jumped at the sound. They had both seen their fair share of their father's anger before, but never in this form.

"Peter, calm down please. The kids are outside and I do not want them to hear you yelling." Veronica said as she moved towards her husband, placing a hand on his back to try to calm him.

"He wouldn't do that dad." Spencer spoke once he had sat down and started his breathing exercises to relax himself.

"How can you be sure? Spence, if he goes through and reads your medical records..." Peter started in a softer voice, but she cut him off.

"I know dad. Right now, he does not have a reason to go looking through my files to see what I have been up to these last few years. As long as we are careful while in town, we should be okay."

"Do you have any idea how hard that is going to be?" Melissa's husband, Nick finally chimed in. The rest of the group turned to look at him. "I mean c'mon. You know how this small town likes to gossip over everything. One person says the wrong thing while he is in earshot and that will give him enough reason to start digging around."

Peter let what Nick said sink in for a moment before he reached into his pockets, pulling out his cell phone. "I'm going to call Tom and have him place a restriction on all your files." He said standing up as he was already dialing the family lawyer's number. "I will not have Toby Cavanaugh rip apart this family after everything we have done to keep it whole."

Spencer watched her father walk out of the room towards his office. Her mother had disappeared into the kitchen with some of the plates from the table while Melissa and Nick talked quietly to themselves.

She found herself walking out of the room towards the front door and stopped to look through her bag before continuing out of the house. Once outside, she walked down the three steps and made her way to the end of the driveway.

"At least that nightmare is now over." She thought aloud as she brought the cigarette to her lips to light. A second later, grey smoke filtered out from her nose after her inhale. Smoking was a habit she picked up years ago, one that gave her great comfort in time of stress.

Spencer placed her right elbow on top of her left arm that was resting against her chest and slightly moved her right hand to her lips again to let the burning nicotine enter her body. Getting lost in her thoughts, she never heard the approaching footsteps that came to stop a few yards behind her.

"Momma?"


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Chapter 5 my dears. Read it, enjoy it, review it! Thanks! :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pretty Little Liars**.

**Chapter 5:**

Spencer turned around startled at the sound of a voice behind her and moved her hand with the cigarette out of view letting it drop to the ground.

"Are you leaving without saying goodbye?" Tristan asked as tears threatened to fall from his blue eyes.

Spencer's heart broke all over again. Standing in the grass, a few yards away from her were Tristan and Nathan. Tristan was standing in front of his brother, who had tears freely falling down his face.

"Come here." She said softy as she kneeled down in the grass and held her arms open.

Both boys sprinted right into her body, hugging her tightly. She hugged them back just as tight and kissed each one on the forehead. "I promise that I will never leave without saying something to you both first. I love you two more than anything in this world." She made sure to look each of them in the eye as she spoke and smiled when the boys nodded in return.

"We love you too momma." Tristan said as he hugged her again. "Yeah, we love you a lot!" Nathan added with a silly smile.

"How about we go inside and eat some more of those cookies huh?" She asked and both of them pulled away and made a dash for the house yelling in excitement.

Spencer stood up and jogged behind the twins to the front door. "Where's the fire boys? Slow down!" She heard her father say as she closed the door. "Can we talk in my office for a minute?" he asked as he motioned for her to follow him.

"Uh, yeah. I'll meet you in there?"

Peter nodded and disappeared back into the room, closing the door. Spencer walked right to the kitchen to find the twins fighting over a cookie.

"Tristan you had yours already, that one is mine! Give it back!" Nathan was trying to grab the snack from his brother who was moving it from hand to hand.

"If you really want it than grab it!" He laughed as he teased Nathan pulling the cookie away every time he went to reach for it.

Nathan getting frustrated hit Tristan hard in the arm, causing the cookie to fall to the ground. "You dropped it!" He raised his close hand again to strike his brother but Spencer grabbed his arm quickly.

"Hey! I did not raise you to hit people Nathan!" She dropped his arm and pulled him a few steps away to speak with him. "Why did you think it was okay to hit your brother?"

"He took the last two cookies and wouldn't give me mine." Nathan said with his arms crossed and an angry pout on his face.

"That is no reason to hit someone. I want you to go over to him and apologize with a sorry and a hug."

"Why! He was being mean to me! I just wanted my cookie." He said not moving towards Tristan.

"Nate, I'm going to count to five and if you aren't making your way over to him by the time I'm finished you will be going right to bed." Spencer challenged to him.

"One." Nathan stood his ground.

"Two."

"Three." He uncrossed his arms and looked at her nervous.

"Four." Nathan's eyes widen when he heard her continue the count and he quickly made the few steps to his brother.

"Tristan, I'm sorry that I hit you in the arm." He said and gave his brother a hug.

"Tristan, don't you have an apology you would like to give to Nate?" Spencer said as she came to stand next to them.

"Nathan, I'm sorry that I wouldn't let you have the cookie." He said as he looked down at his shoes.

"No more teasing or being mean to each other, do you hear me? If you have a problem with one another, you find a grown up and have them help okay?" They both nodded. "Good. I have to talk to grandpa, why don't you both get upstairs and play in your room. I'll be up in a couple of minutes to tuck you in to bed."

They ran out of the kitchen towards the stairs and disappeared laughing, already forgetting what happened moments ago.

Spencer shook her head smiling as she started to make her way to her father's office. Entering the room, she saw her father typing on his computer but he stopped once she sat down.

"About before during dinner, I want to apologize..." Peter started.

"Dad, you don't need to apologize. You had every right to act the way you did and frankly, I am the one who should apologize to you and mom."

"You? Why do you say that?"

"Look at everything you both have done for me the last seven and a half years. If you guys hadn't been here to help, I don't know what would have happened to me..to us."

"Spencer, honey." Peter was already getting out of his chair, moving to the front of his desk and took the seat next to his daughter. He placed his right hand on her back and gave her a reassuring rub. "Your mother and I will always be here for you and those boys, no matter what is happening in your life. Whether good or bad, you just know that we will do everything we can to make it better."

"Tom said the restriction will be in place by tomorrow evening. If anyone wants to get a hold of any of your records, they will have to contact him first to get approval. In the meantime, we have to come up with a back-up plan."

"I know, I've been trying to think of one for the last couple of days now." Spencer said as she brought her hands up to cover her face. "The best idea I have is to ask the boys to lie when they are in town. The people here only know bits and pieces of the story so we should have a good chance at keeping them guessing."

"Is that really what you want to do?"

"What other choice do I have?" Spencer asked looking her father straight in eyes.

After a few more minutes of brain storming, Spencer left her father's office and head up the stairs to say goodnight to the boys. When she reached their bedroom door, she leaned against the wall listening to their laughter. "_How did I get so lucky?"_ She thought to herself. It had been a long and hard ride for her and her family, but those boys always seemed to make even her worst days seem like the greatest.

Spencer spent the next ten minutes getting the boys ready for bed. She gave them each a kiss goodnight and tucked them into their warm beds. "I love you Tristan and Nathan. Sweet dreams my babies." She whispered as she turned off their light. "Love you too momma." One of the boys said in return.

Spencer made her way downstairs to say her goodbye to the rest of her family. "Mom, dad. I have to get going; otherwise I'll be late for my shift tonight."

"I don't understand that with your college education the best job you found in Philly was at a night club, working as a bartender." Peter said shaking his head in disbelief.

"I've been looking for a better job, but right now, the amount of money I make in tips has been helping a lot with the rent." She would never tell her parents that the nightclub was in fact the hottest gentleman's club in Philly and she was their main event. She was just grateful her father never showed interest in strip clubs.

"Well, keep looking. If you need me to put out some feelers to help get your foot in the door, just say the word."

"Thanks dad, I will let you know If I need it. Promise." She quickly hugged her parents, as well as Melissa, Nick and Jake. "Bye everyone, I'll see you this weekend."

Soon Spencer was back in her mustang, driving down the highway. Both windows down, her radio blasting music to drown out her nagging thoughts. The day was over and with her night just beginning, she had to stay focused on her routine. "_2am can't come soon enough."_

Spencer arrived only a few minutes later than she wanted. Quickly grabbing her bag, she got out of the car, locked it and sprinted towards the backdoors. One of the bouncers smiled as he let her enter the building. "Hey Autumn, Jamie wants to see you in his office. Told me to send you his way the second I saw you come in."

"Thanks." She said and made her way to his office. "Hey Jamie, you wanted to see me?" She asked after knocking on the doorframe.

"Come in, and close the door behind you." He said in a serious tone.

Spencer raised an eyebrow as she closed the door and made her way to the chair in front of his desk. "What's going on?"

Jamie leaned back into his leather chair and brought his hands up to his chin. He studied her face for a couple seconds longer before speaking. "I have a business offer for you. The pay is three times the amount your already bring home and I know that you and a few other girls I can trust with this. I just need a yes or no answer right now and once I have more details, I will fill you in."

"You want me to say yes or no to an offer that vague with the only detail at the moment being more money?" He nodded but did not speak. Spencer took a deep breath. She knew that Emily and she could use the extra money, they were starting to struggle with their payments, and once the boys moved into the apartment in a few months, every dollar would help. "Do I have the option to change my mind later if it's something I'm not interested in?"

"Of course! Right now, I am just looking for bodies." He said nodding again.

"Alright, fine. Count me in as of right now." She said as she stood up and turned to leave the room.

"Great!" Jamie said beaming as he stood as well. "Have a great show tonight darling."

"It's always a great show when Autumn Jade is on stage." She winked at him and then continued down to the dressing room to get ready for the nights main event.

* * *

The night's main event went better than Spencer expected, thankfully, no Toby sitting in the crowd to distract her. "Hey baby doll. What do you do to those poor men to make them want you so much?" Tammy asked as she approached Spencer who had just walked through the curtains.

"It's all in the eyes." Spencer joked as her friend just smiled in return.

"Well, just a heads up, there is some guy waiting for you at your booth. Say's he is cop, had some questions to ask you. I asked him to wait outside, but he insisted on waiting back here." Tammy informed her before walking away to talk to another girl.

"Thanks Tam."

As Spencer arrived at her booth, she spotted him sitting in her chair, his eyes focused on his shoes. "Perks of the job huh?" She whispered in his ear. She had managed to walk right up behind him unnoticed.

Toby nearly jumped right out of the chair when he heard her voice suddenly behind him. "Jeez Spencer. You nearly gave me a heart attack." He said as he turned in the chair to look at her. When he did, he almost fell out of the chair for a second time.

Spencer's outfit was completely different from the last time he saw her. Her beautiful brown hair was down, all curled around her face, making her brown eyes look more inviting. She was wearing a sexy black and red lace halter corset that fit perfect against all her curves. As his eyes traveled down her body, he noticed she had on matching boy shorts and black fishnets that started mid thigh going down to her black high heels.

When he looked back at her face, she had a huge smirk playing at her cherry colored lips. "What do you think?" She asked and to make him even more uncomfortable, she spun around slowly giving him a full view of the outfit. Still smirking as she faced him again.

Toby quickly stood up and cleared his throat before speaking. "You look amazing, but uh that's not why I'm here. I was hoping we could set up a day to get together to talk."

"I see." Spencer said as she moved to sit down in her chair now that Toby was standing. She pulled her brown curls to one side of her head, exposing her back to him. Still holding her hair in one hand, she slightly turned her head to glance at him. "Think you could help a girl out?" she asked referring to the corset ties that she made him believe she could not reach.

"Oh, uh sure." He replied in a nervous voice. She could feel his hands starting to shake as they tried to undo the knot that would release the corset. Watching him from the mirror, she could not help but grin at what she was doing to him. She wanted to have a little fun with teasing him before she would make plans to have a sit down.

"Thanks" She said after he got the bottom knot free. She used one hand to hold the front while her other hand began to loosen the ties. After a few more seconds, she had all the ties undone and she pulled the corset away from her body, knowing that Toby could see her in the mirror.

Toby's eyes widened as he stared for a few seconds before quickly adverting his eyes to the ground. "Oh god." He muttered under his breath as he turned so his back was facing her. "I am so sorry Spencer." He said and got Spencer's light laughing in response.

"Relax Toby. It's not as if you haven't seen me like this before. I'll be back in a few and we can finish our talk." She said and walked away towards the changing rooms.

Toby just nodded, as she walked away. He could not believe she had just done that to him and then brush it off as if it was no big deal. "_She is definitely not the same girl from seven years ago."_ Toby thought to himself. He was still deciding if that was a good or bad thing.

"So what did you have in mind for our talk?" Spencer asked as she returned from the changing rooms. Toby carefully turned around and let out a breath when she came out fully clothed. Her hair was still down, but instead of a corset and fishnets, she had on a fitted black tank top with a pair of tight jeans shorts.

"I just thought we could do coffee and fill each other in on the last seven years. Are you free tomorrow night?"

"I'd say yes, but I'm trying to work the next two nights to get the weekend off. Hastings family get together and my appearance is required for the evening." Spencer said as she reached into her bag to pull out her sneakers.

"Dinner party?" He asked raising an eyebrow. From what he remembered, the Hastings loved throwing big pointless parties to show off and to get their gossip fixes.

"Think a lot more fun. We are having a big birthday party for my nephew who will be turning five this weekend." She explained as she grabbed her bag from the floor and brought it to her shoulder.

"That's just Saturday right? What about Sunday during the day?"

"I should be free until one, so if you want we can meet in Rosewood at the grill for 11?"

"Perfect. I will mark it in my phone." He said flashing a smile as he pulled out his phone to add the date to his calendar.

"It's a date." Spencer said smiling back. "Well Detective Cavanaugh, if there are no more questions for me, I have to be going home."

Toby noticed that it was close to 3am and nodded. "Can I walk you out to your car?"

"Sure, I'd like that a lot. I just have to make a stop on my way out; if you want I'll meet you by the back exit." She said pointing to a door at the far end of the room.

"Okay. See you in a few." He said and started to make his way to the exit to wait.

Spencer went in the opposite direction to Jamie's office. After a few minutes of small talk, Spencer received her pay for the night, and once again thanked for her interest in the offer he made earlier.

Not wanting to keep Toby waiting any longer, she jogged over to the exit. "Alright, let's get out of here." She said as she pushed the back open and they walked out into the warm breeze.

"Your grandfather gave you the mustang?" Toby asked as they came to stop next to the car.

"He left it in his will for me. He knew I was the only one who actually took interest in it enough to have."

"I'm sorry to hear of his passing. He was a great man, one of a kind." Toby said looking Spencer in the eyes.

"Thanks." She said as she broke his gaze and pulled her keys out from her bag. "So I'll see you Sunday at 11 right?"

"Sunday at 11." Toby nodded in confirmation. "Goodnight Spencer." He said as he gave a small wave and turned walking away towards the building.

"Goodnight Toby." She whispered to his retreating body. She watched him disappear to the other side of the building before slipping into her car and started it up. Before she drove off, the sound of a motorcycle skidding off made her smile. "_Wonder if it's the same bike that I got him." _She questioned as she shifted the car into drive and started to make her way out of the parking lot.

On her drive home, she decided that after she woke up later in the day, she would get Aria and Hanna over so they would be up to speed on the last few days. She just laughed to herself as she imaged the shocked looks on the girls faces after she explained what happened tonight. "It's all in the eyes." She said aloud to herself with a grin.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Chapter 6 boys and girls. Read it, love it, review it. Thanks! :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pretty Little Liars**. **I also do not own the lyrics to the song at the end of the chapter. They belong to Avril Lavigne.**

**Chapter 6:**

_"Spencer, are you here?" A voice called from the distance. _

_"She has to be, her car is still in the driveway." Another voice spoke through the darkness._

_"I think she would have answered us by now if she was home. Are you sure her text said to meet here? It's not like her to come home and not turn any lights on." The third chimed in._

_"I know how to read a text message Hanna!" Emily's voice rose through the house._

_"I didn't say you couldn't. I just find it odd that she said to meet here and she isn't even here for us to meet!" _

_Suddenly a loud thud rang from above the girls, causing them all to jump. "What was that?"_

_"Spencer!" The girls all yelled as they made a dash for the stairs. Once they reached the landing, they all ran down the hall to their best friend's room. Finding the room dark, Emily switched on the light and the girls stood alone. Their friend was not in the room. _

_"Where did that sound come from?" Aria's voice cried out and they turned to search the remaining rooms._

_"We were standing in the kitchen when we heard the noise right?" Emily asked with a shaken tone._

_"Yeah so?" _

_"What room is above the kitchen?" Her voice questioned._

_It seemed like minutes ticked by, when it only took seconds for the girls to start to run down to a closed door that stood only a few feet away. _

_Without hesitation, Emily flung open the door…_

* * *

Spencer jolted awaked, gasping for a breath. She quickly brought a hand to her chest and looked at her surroundings. "_It was just a dream Spence. Calm down."_ She told herself as she allowed her body to fall backwards, her head resting back on the pillow.

Taking a few more deep breaths, she sat up, and swung her legs to the side of the bed to stand. Crossing over to her dresser, she grabbed a change of clothes and took the towel that hung on the back of her desk chair.

Once she exited her room, her goal was to make a beeline to the bathroom. As she got closer, her goal failed. Emily was already in the shower and now Spencer had to wait. "Em, how much longer are you going to be?" She asked after knocking on the door.

"I just got in, I'll be out soon."

Spencer groaned and turned away from the door to walk towards the kitchen. After placing her bathroom items on the table, she walked right over to their Keurig machine turning it on. "I guess I'll have to settle for you right now."

As she waited for the water to heat, she retrieved a mug and placed it on the platform of the maker. She then spun around their K-cup carousal until she found the right flavor and inserted it once the blinking blue lights turned on. After selecting her cup size, she rested her arms on the counter and watched as the hot liquid leaked into her awaiting mug.

"Are you just going to stare at the coffee or drink it?" Emily's amused voice broke Spencer from her thoughts.

"Huh?" She muttered quickly as she turned and found Emily making her way into the kitchen. "That was a fast shower." She said as she picked up her mug carefully to not burn her fingers but frowned when she realized it was cooler than she liked. With a small whine, she walked to the microwave and placed the mug inside to reheat it.

"I was in there for fifteen minutes Spence." Emily said as she eyed her friend. "What time you get in this morning?"

"Not till a quarter to three." She said keeping her back to Emily. "Did you get my note?"

"Yeah, should be here within the hour."

Spencer nodded pulling her steaming mug out and gently brought it to her lips. "What?" She asked turning around to face Emily; she had felt her eyes boring into the back of her head.

"Did something happen last night? Is that why you wanted the girls over?"

"A lot happened last night and I'd rather get them caught up so I don't have to repeat everything twice." Spencer placed her mug down on the counter. "If they show up while I'm in the shower, fill them in on what you know. I'll explain the rest when I come back out."

Emily gave a slightly nod as she watched Spencer gather get things and leave the room.

Spencer felt more relaxed as she turned off the hot water and reached her hand out to grab her towel. Once tightly wrapped around her skinny frame, she exited the stall and began to dry off. As she was pulling her t-shirt over her head a loud "What!" was heard from the living room. "This is going to be fun." She told herself and quickly finished getting dressed. She left the bathroom with her towel as she tried to dry her long brown hair on the way to the girls.

"Emily, you have to be joking! There is no way that Toby is back in town and I knew nothing about it until now. I am the queen of gossip remember! If he was really in town, I would have heard long before Spencer decided to give him a lap dance at the club." Hanna stated from the couch as Spencer walked into the room.

"I wish this was a joke Hanna. Trust me, I do but Toby is back." Spencer said making her presence known and moved to sit on the couch by Aria. "Thanks for filling them in Em."

"No problem. Now what happened last night?" She asked not wanting to waste anymore time.

"I went to my parent's house for dinner and told them about Toby being back. My dad instantly freaked out and ended up calling our lawyer to have all my records put on restriction just in case anyone at the police station tries to look into anything."

"By anyone, you mean Toby right?" Aria's small voice cut in.

Spencer nodded. "Now that Toby will be in Rosewood, he just wants everyone in our family to be super carefully about where we go and who we talk to. He is worried about information getting to Toby and having him cause problems for us again."

"You do realize that is impossible right?" Aria asked cutting in again, earning a glare from the other girls. She raised her hands in defensive. "All I'm trying to say is, hiding a secret that big, in such a small town..." Her words trailing off as she shook her head.

"I know, it's not the world's greatest plan, but for right now it's all we got. Do you have a better plan for us to use?" Spencer asked looking around the room at each girl.

"Ok can we move on please?" Emily asked getting annoyed. "What happened next?"

"Not much more, I had to leave for work because I was running late for my event."

"You mean your strip tease." Hanna threw in with a big grin on her face. "I still can't believe that little miss prude over here turns out to be one of the hottest strippers this city has even seen." Hanna leaned forward on the couch and grinned at Spencer. "Before you go on, I just have to ask. When you were giving Toby the lap dance, did you feel him get excited?"

"Hanna!" Both Emily and Aria shouted at the same time, while Spencer just laughed, shaking her head.

"What? I am just curious to know if he is still into Spencer after all these years. I mean c'mon, if I was him, and saw you dancing around in barely anything, I would get excited if you gave me a lap dance. Just saying." Hanna explained as she shifted backwards into the couch; shrugging her shoulders like her question was not that big of a deal.

"Thanks, I think." Spencer said with a small laugh. "To your question, my answer is no comment." She gave a half smirk and a wink towards Hanna. "So after my event.."

"Strip tease" Hanna coughed under breath, earring a smack from Emily. "Ow." She mouthed over to her friend.

Spencer rolled her eyes as she continued. "I was walking back to my booth when Tammy stopped me and told me about a cop wanting to ask me questions. I had a good feeling it was Toby and when I made my way over, he was so sitting there looking at his shoes…"

"Aw, he was embarrassed to be looking at all the naked girls."

"Hanna, you know no one gets naked at our club. Do you want to hear what happened or would you like to keep interrupting me?"

"Sorry, that was the last time. Promise." She said and pretended to lock her mouth and throw the key behind the couch.

"As I was saying, he was sitting looking at his shoes when I came up and I guess I startled him because he pretty much jumped out of the chair before he saw me. Once he turned around to look at me, let us just say, he was picking his jaw up from the floor." Spencer laughed as the girl's eyes all widened at her words.

Hanna sat forward again quickly and raised her hand in the air like a student in class. "Spence, one more question! Please, one more!"

"Might as well otherwise you will never finish telling us what happened." Aria said as she got up and headed to the kitchen for a drink.

Hanna squealed and clapped her hands once Spencer gave her a nod to ask. "Which outfit did you have on and how was your hair and which shoes did you wear?"

"Really Hanna? You stopped her to know about her outfit and shoes?" Emily asked rolling her eyes. "You really are a fashion designer."

"If you must know, I had my hair down, slightly curled around my face. My outfit was my matching black and red lace halter corset set, with my fishnets and black high heels." She said grinning.

"Okay, see this is good. Now I have a great visual of why Toby almost broke his jaw. Nice work Spence." Hanna said shooting a wink towards her friend.

"So once he picked his jaw up from the floor, he told me that he wanted to set up a date and time to meet to finish our talk from the hotel. We picked this Sunday to meet up but not until I was done teasing him some more."

"Spencer, what did you do to that poor guy?" Emily muttered as she covered her face shaking her head. She almost did not want to know what she did to Toby.

"Nothing bad. I just asked for his help in undoing the ties on the corset." Spencer smiled innocently.

"You didn't!" Hanna nearly jumped out of her seat grinning.

"Didn't what?" Aria asked, not picking up what they meant and looked between the two girls.

"I did." Spencer replied laughing.

"Did what? Hello, fill me in please!" Aria said standing up to get Spencer's attention.

"She let the corset drop and Toby got a nice preview of what he had been missing for the last seven and a half years."

"Spencer! Oh my god, I can't believe you did that to him!" Emily said shocked and threw a pillow at the still laughing Spencer.

"What! It is not as if he has not seen it all before Emily. You remember we used to date many years ago."

"So did he say anything or do anything after you flashed him?" Aria asked, now sitting back down on the couch.

"He muttered oh god and then told me he was sorry."

"Oh I love it!" Hanna said clapping her hands. "That boy will be wrapped around your finger again in no time."

Suddenly Spencer froze in her seat, the smile on her face gone. Her thoughts quickly played the images of Toby and the red head kissing. "I don't think so Hanna. There is something I forgot to tell you guys." Her voice shaking as she tried to find the right words. "Toby…He was at the park yesterday morning when I went for my run." Her eyes turned to Emily. "I lied to you in the bathroom. Something did happen."

"I knew it! Why didn't you just tell me Spencer? Why lie to my face about it?"

"I don't know. I just panicked and I was already late for my mom's house and I knew I had to tell them about Toby being home. I just couldn't deal with getting questioned and yelled at twice in the same night."

"So what happened? What did Toby do?"

The girls had all their eyes on Spencer, waiting for her to speak.

Spencer swallowed the lump foaming in her throat and bit her tongue to keep back the tears. "_No weakness Hastings. Be strong."_

"He moved on." A single tear escaped rolling slowly down her cheek.

* * *

_Screams, tears, pain, darkness. The order of the events unclear to the girl who's heart lay in a million pieces on the tile floor. The love of a man gone, replaced by the fear of a lonely road. Words spoken out of anger still linger in her pretty head as a river of tears flow steady from broken brown eyes. "Toby" Her pale lips whispered as the voices slowly disappeared from thought and a content smile greeted the darkness._

_'All the pain I thought I knew_  
_All the thoughts lead back to you _  
_Back to what was never said_  
_Back and forth inside my head_  
_I can't handle this confusion_  
_I'm unable; come and take me away'_


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Chapter 7. This Chapter has two flashbacks both in connection with the one from Chapter 6. Like or Love it? Review it! Thanks! :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pretty Little Liars**.

**Chapter 7:**

"What are you talking about Spence? Did he tell you that last night at the club?" Emily asked shifting forward in her seat.

"No." She said shaking her head, quickly wiping the tear away. "I saw him at the park; he was kissing some red head. He looked really happy."

Aria shifted over to be closer to her friend and pulled her into a hug.

"If he was dating some chick, why would he have been at the strip club twice?" Hanna asked not convinced that Toby could have moved on. Emily shot her a pointed look. "What? He must not be as happy as he seems if he keeps going back to flirt with her."

"Trust me Han, there is no flirting going on between us." Spencer gave up softy as she rested her head on Aria's shoulder.

"Do you want there to be?" Aria asked as her fingers ran through Spencer's long brown hair.

"I don't know what I want." Spencer replied sighing as she pulled away from Aria and stood up to leave the room.

The girls watched as she disappeared out onto the porch, closing the door behind her.

"Emily, you met with him the other day, did he mention a girl-friend or hint that he was seeing someone?" Hanna asked as she turned in her seat to watch Spencer outside.

"Nothing." She said shaking her head. "I can't believe that Toby would forget to tell me something that important."

"Maybe it's a new relationship and he just didn't want to jinx anything just in case they broke up." Aria threw in trying to be the voice of reason.

"What I don't understand is if he is seeing someone, why keep trying to meet up with Spencer. He has to know he is teasing her into the idea of getting back together."

"Maybe he is just looking for closure from how they left things years ago." Aria shrugged as she leaned back into the couch.

"Closure? He doesn't need closure Aria, he left her and we had to clean up the mess afterwards or did you forget?" Emily replied harshly.

"I don't need a history lesson Emily, I remember what happened. We all do."

"Good, because we need to make sure it doesn't happen again. She has too much at stake this time."

"Do you guys find yourself still thinking about that night?" Hanna asked, almost in a whisper.

* * *

_As soon as the door opened, Emily quickly stepped in. Her fingers scanned the wall beside her for the light switch. A second later, light filled the room and Emily's eyes suddenly locked on her friend lying on the hard tile. "Spencer!" She shouted and rushed forward, kneeling the moment she reached her friend._

_"Oh my god! I'll call 911" Hanna said quickly as she pulled out her phone and dialed._

_"Spencer, wake up!" Emily pleaded through tears as she pulled Spencer from the ground and into her arms, trying to shake her friend awake._

_"Em…"Aria voice trailed off from the side of the room. Emily looked up to see Aria holding an empty bottle of pills in one hand, while her other held a pregnancy test. "It's positive." _

_"No, she wouldn't have done this if she knew!" Emily cried out and she turned her attention back to Spencer. "Wake up Spence, please. Don't leave us." _

_"The ambulance is on the way." Hanna said as her own tears were streaming down her face. "Em, is she still alive?"_

_"Of course she is Hanna!" Emily yelled not taking her eyes off Spencer. She watched, as her friend's chest would rise for air, but noticed that the pattern was slow and staggered, almost as if Spencer was fighting to live. "Don't give up Spence. Don't give up please." Emily begged into her ear as she brought a hand to rest over her heart. The beats barely felt through the t-shirt and Emily started praying for a miracle._

_Aria and Hanna were now sitting opposite of Emily and Aria had taken Spencer's limp hand into her own. The three girls looked up when the sound of sirens reached the street and grew closer to the Hastings house. _

_"Hear that Spence? Hang on please. They are coming to help you. Stay with us." Emily spoke again close to Spencer's ear. She still had her hand over her heart, making sure she could still feel the fight in her friend._

_After what seemed like hours, two paramedics came rushing into the bathroom and kindly asked Emily and the girls to step away. As they worked to stabilize Spencer, questions about their friend had begun, and they each offered answers as best they could. The girls had moved closer to the wall and had their arms tightly around each other as tears endlessly fell._

_They placed Spencer onto a stretcher and one of the paramedics looked over at them again. "Do you know what she took?"_

_Aria pointed a shaky hand towards the sink. "I found that bottle on the ground and another one in the sink. Both empty." _

_He nodded and grabbed both bottles as they made their way out of the room towards the stairs. "You can follow behind us to the hospital. Has anyone notified her parents?"_

_"No, we will call on the way." Emily said as the group followed, her eyes not leaving Spencer's limp body. Once outside, they watched as they loaded Spencer into the back of the ambulance and slammed the door shut._

* * *

"Every day." Emily replied as she focused on Spencer outside.

The girls finally decided that Spencer had enough time to herself and made their way outside to their friend. Once outside, Emily took the seat next to her friend, while Aria and Hanna shared the other chair.

"I thought you quit smoking?" Hanna's eyebrow rose as she watched Spencer smile through an inhale of the cigarette.

"Is that what you came out here for? To nag me?" Spencer asked as some of the grey smoked escaped her pink lips.

"No, we came out here to make sure you were okay." Aria said as she eyed the cigarette with longing. Spencer noticed and threw the pack towards her friend, who nodded in thanks.

"I'm okay. You don't need to worry about me, I promise." She said looking at all her friends, but reached over to squeeze Emily's hand. "I promise." She said again, locking eyes with her. Emily was her closest friend out of the three. She knew that Emily was going to be the most concerned when it came to anything dealing with her state of mind.

In return, Emily squeezed her hand back and slightly smiled. "I believe you this time. " She laughed as Spencer rolled her eyes and pulled her hand away.

"You better. So do you girls want to help me pick out a gift for Jake's birthday this weekend?"

"Shopping? Of course I'm game!" Hanna said excited as she stood up.

"You do realize we are shopping for a soon to be 5 year old right?" Spencer asked a smile on her face.

"Yeah but that should be easy. I figure, get the kid taken care of and then we can look for more slutty outfits for you to wear during your strip tease." She said with a wave of her hand as she made her way to the door. "Finish those death sticks so we can get a move on. C'mon Em, let's wait inside with the clean air."

Emily laughed again and got up to follow Hanna, closing the door behind her. Aria shifted into the chair more comfortably now that Hanna was gone. "God, Ezra would kill me if he could see me now." Aria said as she took another inhale and closed her eyes as she let the smoke slowly slip out.

"I'm sure Emily wants to kill me every time I lit up too. How's my little Dylan doing?"

"He is great. He misses seeing your boys though; he wanted me to ask about doing a play date soon."

"I think the boys would love that Aria. How about we do next week sometime?" Spencer said as she took the last hit off the cigarette before putting it out in the ashtray on the railing.

"Prefect. Now let's get inside before Hanna comes back to yell at us." Aria said smiling and put the remains of her own cigarette out in the tray.

Both girls stood and made their way back into the apartment, finding Hanna and Emily waiting in the kitchen. "Let me grab my bag and then we can head to the mall. Who is driving?"

"I'd say you, but since we need a car with a trunk to put everything in, the mustang is out." Hanna said pouting. She loved riding in Spencer's mustang and having guys they drove by smiling at them. "So that leaves Aria's soccer mom jeep."

"Van Hanna." Spencer corrected as she walked back into the room.

"What? Aria owns a jeep Spence." Hanna said confused, while the other girls smiled.

"That saying only works for mini-vans. Oh never mind, let's just get going." Spencer said laughing once she noticed Hanna not understanding.

Hours later, the girls were sitting in the food court, many bags sat around their chairs. "Now that was a fun shopping trip." Hanna smiled as she sipped on her water bottle.

"Fun is not a word I would use to describe this afternoon." Spencer said as she broke off a piece of her pretzel to place into her mouth. "Expensive, rip off, scam, now those are words I'd use for this shopping trip."

"Oh c'mon Spence, you know that you had a great time looking for new skanky outfits to show off at the club."

"I think you had more of a great time than I did Han. I cannot believe I let you talk me into those shoes. They were way too expensive for a once or twice wear."

"Trust me, you will thank me after you see how many tips you get the first night you wear them with that amazing outfit." She said smiling proudly.

The girls feel into a comfortable silence until Emily cleared her throat. "Uh guys. Toby is at the mall, not alone either." She said nodding her head towards a store the couple was standing by. Aria and Hanna quickly turned to look, more so to see Spencer's competition for Toby's affections.

Spencer's eyes widened but she did not turn to look at the pair. Instead, she started to pick apart her pretzel even more as she looked right at Emily. "What are they doing?" Her voice coming out as a whisper, afraid that Toby would hear her speak from across the food court.

"Holding hands and looks like window shopping." Emily said as she kept her eyes right on them.

"This bitch has nothing on you Spence." Hanna said as she took in the girl's appearance. "She looks to have a nice rack and body, but not compared to yours. She is shorter than you are and that red hair is unattractive. I also think she got a nose job. What the hell does Toby see in her?"

"How can you tell if she got a nose job from all the way over here? We are like over 100 feet away Hanna." Aria asked as she tried to get a better view of the girl's face.

"Aria, darling, I work in fashion remember? I can spot a fake nose from miles away. I bet you that her nose was not the only work she got done."

"Oh god..." Emily said adverting her eyes to the table quickly. "He saw me staring at them. I think he is coming over to the table."

"Emily." Spencer's voice laced in panic, her breathing began to quicken.

"Don't have a panic attack right now Spencer!" Hanna hissed as she looked up to see that Toby and the red head were indeed coming over to the table.

"Spence, you need to breathe normal. In and out slowly." Emily said taking one of Spencer's hands into her own and made eye contact with her. "In and out." She repeated as she did the breathing excurse with her. She watched Spencer relax after a few breaths and nod her head lightly. "Here they come, game face Hastings." Emily whispered quickly before turning her attention to Toby with a smile. "Toby! What a surprise, what are you doing here?"

"Hey Emily." He said returning the smile. "Just some light shopping but mostly just browsing for items that would go with the house." He turned to point at the girl at his side. "Where are my manners? Eva this is Emily, Aria, Hanna and Spencer." He said pointing to each of the girls as he named them. Each one gave a small hello with a fake smile.

"That's Spencer?" The red head, now known as Eva asked a huge smile on her face. "It is so nice to put a face to the name. Toby has told me a lot about you, well I mean he has told me about all of you but it is nice to finally meet his old girl-friend."

"Is it?" Spencer asked and earned a kick under the table from one of the girls. "I mean, it's nice to finally meet Toby's new girl-friend as well." She said giving off a forced smile.

"Oh I'm not his girl-friend." Spencer felt her heart skip a beat. Maybe she did have a chance to work things out with Toby after-all. "I'm his fiancée." Her eyes widened as Eva pulled out her left hand to show off the big engagement ring that sat perfectly on her finger.

"Wow! That is some rock that you got there." Hanna spoke first for the group and forced out another smile. "Congratulations. When's the big day?" She asked trying to give Spencer some time to collect herself.

"We haven't picked a date yet. We wanted to wait until I got my parent's house in order first. After that, we will sit down and pick our date." Toby replied as he tried to catch Spencer's eyes, but she was staring down at the table.

"Tobes we should get going, we have to be back in Rosewood to sign more papers in an hour." Eva said as she put an arm around Toby's waist. "It was nice to meet you all. Once we have the house in order, it would be a great pleasure if you would all come to our house warming party."

"Sure, we would love to come." Emily spoke this time and waved goodbye as the couple made their way away from the table. Once they disappeared out of view, Emily turned her attention to Spencer. "Hey, you okay?"

"Can we just go please?" She asked softly, not answering Emily's question.

"Yeah, let's get out of here." Emily said and nodded to the other girls as she stood. They all grabbed their bags and quickly made their way to Aria's jeep.

Once at the jeep, Spencer took a seat in the back, letting her bags rest on the floor while she pulled her knees close to her chest and laid her forehead on her kneecaps. Emily slipped in the back and instantly put her arms around her friend.

The drive back to the apartment was all but silent except for the sound of crying coming from Spencer. "_Of course he would have a fiancée. Why did I think I stood a chance to get him back."_ She thought to herself as she clung to Emily for support.

* * *

_"Spencer, we are done. I need you to forget about me and move on." Toby's voice rang through the phone to a broken down Spencer._

_"Please, Toby. I don't understand why you are breaking up with me. What have I done please tell me." She pleaded to him, her voice barely understandable after all the crying she had done hours before the phone call started._

_"You wouldn't understand and this has nothing to do with you Spencer. I need to figure out my life, alone." Alone. The word cut through her like glass._

_"Toby please, let me go with you. I love you, please don't leave me." The tears falling faster down her cheeks._

_"Spencer, stop making this harder than it has to be! We are not good for each other. I have just now come to terms with that and I need you to do the same. Move on, find someone new to love and have the life that you always wanted."_

_"I don't want someone new Toby! We are supposed to be together, we are the greatest when together. Just please, don't leave town tonight, can we ju..."_

_"I'm already at the state line Spencer." He voice held no emotion as he spoke. "I just wanted to call one last time before my phone got shut off. You won't be able to reach me after we hang up. It is going to be as if I never existed in your life and to be honest that is how it should be. No good came out of this relationship Spence; it's time for us to end it."_

_"Please don't do this to me. I can't live without Toby, I don't know how to live without you." She cried into the phone as she leaned into the counter for support._

_"Goodbye Spencer."_

_Her body shook more and the phone slipped from her fingers, landing on the tiles with a crack. She grabbed the edge of the sink to hold her body up as she sobbed, she could not believe that he had left her all alone. _

_Suddenly she straightened up. The girls were on their way over to the house and she definitely did not want to explain what had just happened between Toby and herself. She turned on the faucet and cupped out cold water to splash onto her face in hopes to relieve her red cheeks and swollen eyes._

_Next thing she knew, there was her father's sleeping pills in her hand. The top was off and she was popping a few into her mouth. A few more after that until the empty bottle slipped from her hand to the floor. Clearly not thinking at this point, another bottle was in her possession and soon landed empty into the sink. _

_Her eyes quickly landed on the test and then the words pregnant and she began to cry again. "No good came out of this relationship Spence." Toby's words repeated in her head._

_She pushed her body away from the sink and farther into the bathroom. She heard the girl's downstairs shouting for her. She wanted to call out to them, beg them to help her from the mess she created for herself. The darkness started to overcome her body as the pills began their job to shut down her body. Suddenly she felt herself falling backwards into that very darkness. "Toby" She whispered with a weak smile as her eyes rolled back into her head and her body landed onto the tile limp._

* * *

"Spencer." Emily was gently shaking her friend's shoulders to wake her. "We are at the apartment." She explained when Spencer picked up her head confused.

Spencer grabbed her bags and gave Aria and Hanna each a hug before heading up to the apartment with Emily following. Once inside, she placed all her bags on the table and walked right to her room, shutting her door quietly behind her.

Emily entered the room a few minutes later with a cup in her hands. She walked over to the bed and sat down next to Spencer, and out stretched her arm to her friend. "Here drink it."

"Is it poison?" Spencer asked half smiling as she took the cup and brought it to her lips. "What no tea?"

"I figured coffee would be better for you seeing how you have work in a few hours."

"Yeah, work." Spencer groaned as she leaned back in her headrest. "I don't think tonight is going to be a good show. My mind is racing in an million different ways right now."

"Good thing Hanna made you buy all those new skanky outfits huh?" Emily joked, nudging Spence with her shoulder. "All you'll have tonight is stand there and the money will be pouring in."

"I'm more worried about Toby showing up again." She said looking down at the coffee. "I don't even know what to think about what happened this afternoon, let alone know what to say to him about it."

"If Toby knows what good for him, he will stay away until you guys meet up on Sunday for coffee."

"I hope your right Em." She said smiling at her friend.

For the rest of the evening the girls chatted about random topics until it was time for Spencer to get going to the club. After a few minutes she was on the road, while she drove, her mind wondering If Toby would be waiting to talk to her again.

In the parking lot, she was happy not to see his truck or motorcycle among the other vehicles. Even in the building, no one said anything to her about a man wanting to see her to talk. "_Maybe this will be a good show after all."_

Spencer truly felt in the clear as she got through the show without seeing a trace of him within the mists of the horny drunken men. "_Going to have to thank Hanna though, this outfit really did make a great statement and racked in a good amount of tips tonight." _ Spencer told herself with a smile as she began to change into her street clothes.

Stopping at Jamie's office, she picked up her pay for the night and said her goodbyes to the girls as she made her way out to the parking lot.

Stepping out into the warm air, she reached into her bag and pulled out her pack of cigarettes and lighter. Pulling one stick out of the pack, she brought it to her lips and lit it before she put the rest of the pack back into her bag, along with the lighter. She stood there for a moment, her eyes closed as she enjoyed the feeling of the smoke making its way down her throat.

As she opened her eyes, she let the grey smoke slip from her nose and began to walk to her car. "You have got to be shitting me." She spoke stunned as she froze in the middle of the lot.

In front of her car was a motorcycle blocking the car from leaving the space and casually leaning up against the motorcycle was Toby Cavanaugh. He looked up when he heard her voice, his boyish grin covered his face and he pushed himself off the bike. In his hands, he held a black helmet, which he now held out towards her. "Take a ride with me Spencer Hastings."


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Chapter 8! This chapter took me a hours to figure out how I wanted to write things to play out. I think it came out rather well, I hope you think so too. Also, there is another A/N at the end. If you like/love it, please review it! Thanks! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pretty Little Liars**.

**Chapter 8:**

Spencer remained unmoving from her spot in the parking a lot, her eyes frozen on his hand that held the helmet towards her.

"One ride." His voice spoke softly, breaking her gaze from his hand to his face. He was still wearing that boyish grin across his lips.

"No." She said as she turned quickly on her heel and began to make her way back to the club. Remembering that she was holding a cigarette, she took a finally hit to calm her nerves before letting it slip from her fingers.

Suddenly his hand was on her forearm, his body stood close to her own, blue eyes trying to look into brown ones. "I need to explain. I can't wait till Sunday to talk with you."

When she tilted her head up to meet his gaze, their faces were only inches away, she could feel his breath on her skin. She took in his familiar scent of sawdust and peppermint and felt herself shiver as she watched his full lips move as he spoke.

Feeling uncomfortable, she took a step back from his grasp. "You don't need to explain. You moved on. Congratulations on your engagement." She forced a smile before turning away and looked towards her car. "Can you move your bike; Emily is waiting up for me."

"She is asleep." He said as he moved passed her towards the bike, the grin still present on his face. "Any more excuses you want to try?"

"How would you know if she was asleep?" Spencer raised her eyebrow and folded her arms against her chest. She watched as he straddled the bike and pushed back the kickstand with his foot.

"I might have called her before heading over to give her a heads up." Toby turned slightly to look at her, and held out the helmet again. "One ride to explain, that's all I'm asking for. After that, you can decide what happens next. Please?" His grin turned into a pout.

Spencer stood her ground for a few seconds longer before rolling her eyes and stepped forward grabbing the helmet from his hands. "Fine, one ride and then you bring me back to my car."

"Promise." The pout instantly switched to a smile. "So when you get on, make sure your leg doesn't touch.."

"This isn't my first time Toby." She cut him off as she swung her leg over the bike and wrapped her arms around his waist, clasping her hand on her arm.

Toby revved up the bike and started out of the parking lot towards the main road. Soon he was speeding down towards the highway and Spencer tightened her hold around him while resting her head on his back.

Closing her eyes, she tried her hardest to forget the memories that flooded her mind of all the times they spent riding through Rosewood, but when she felt Toby's hand rest on top of her own her eyes snapped open.

"_What the hell."_ She thought as his fingers slowly started to dance circles on her skin, causing her to shiver once more. As much as she wanted to pull away from his touch, she valued her life more.

After another ten minutes of riding, Toby pulled off an exit from the highway and they began to travel through a small town. Toby hand still danced along her arm until he started to slow the bike down to stop at a red light.

"Left or right?" She heard him call once they stopped moving.

"What?" Spencer looked in both directions confused; neither way looked to hold any promise of life outside of them.

"Quick, we going left or right Spence." He asked again as he revved the bike.

"I uh..." She looked both directions again. "Uhh...left, go left." She finally said seeing that going left held more lights that in turn made her feel better.

Toby nodded and made the left hand turn and revved the bike to go faster once again. As they drove down the road, the lights started becoming fewer and fewer and Spencer silently cursed at herself. "_Leave it to me to pick the road that will lead us to our death."_

As quickly as she thought it, the road opened up and Toby slowed the bike down once again as the tires came in contact with dirt. Spencer looked around and noticed a huge baseball field off in the distance and closer to that a playground. Another field for soccer was next with random picnic tables spaced throughout the park.

Toby rode the bike right to the grass edge before turning it off and placed both feet on the ground to hold the bike up before pushing out the kickstand. Spencer leaned back from him and pulled her arms away from his body to slip off the bike. Once she had both her feet on the ground, she pulled off the helmet and started to straighten out her messy hair.

"You look good like that." Toby said smiling as he took the helmet from her hands and placed it on the back of the bike.

Choosing to ignore the comment, she moved to hang her bag from the handlebars. "You brought me out here to explain, so start explaining." She said getting right to the point.

"Let's take a walk." Toby answered and started into the grass towards the playground.

"I didn't agree to a bike ride and a walk Toby." She called after him but he kept going. Sighing she followed him out into the grass.

Toby walked right over to the swings, took a seat and kicked off the ground to start swinging. Spencer on the other hand, stood by the post and watched him. "Aren't you going to join me?" His voice asked breaking the silence of the night.

She shook her head with a smile as she leaned her body up against the pole and crossed her arms. "I'm not out here to swing; I'm out here to listen."

"You haven't changed one bit." He replied as he used his feet to stop himself from swinging.

"What do you mean by that because I'm pretty sure I'm not the same girl you left all those years ago." She told him, not even trying to hide the bitterness in her words.

"Dancing around a strip club barely wearing anything doesn't change you. It just shows that you're still lying to yourself." He said as he stood up and walked to stand by the pole opposite of her.

"Excuse me? Lying to myself?" Her voice rose in anger. "Where do you come off talking to me like that? You don't know a thing about me or my life, seeing how you haven't been a part of it for the last seven and a half years."

Toby raised his hands in front of his body. "Calm down! I guess you have changed since we last saw each other but it still does not explain why you became a stripper. I thought you wanted to be a lawyer like your parents. What happened to that?"

Spencer pushed herself away from the pole and towards one of the swings. "We aren't here to talk about me; you wanted to explain yourself for something? Get started." She told him harshly. She could not believe he was trying to pry into her life after everything he did.

"Why do you always do that? Why are you pushing me away again?" Frustration clearly heard in his voice.

"I pushed you away?" She shouted as she quickly turned around to face him. "Did you hit your head in the last seven years? I am damn sure I was not the one who called you after one fight and broke off our relationship. I did not leave you when you needed me the most! That was you Toby! You left. You pushed me away!"

Toby's face went from frustrated to angry as she spoke. "We did not have just one fight Spencer! We had been fighting for weeks before I left because you lied to me." He yelled back as he moved towards her. "I didn't break us up, you did." His finger pointing right at her chest as the words fell from his lips.

In response, she slapped his hand away from her body, but let him keep speaking. "Every time I asked you about it, you put up your wall and kept me in the dark. You knew more than you told me and that is why I left town. To get the answers you wanted to keep for yourself."

"Is that why you came back? You found your answers and wanted to rub it in my face?" She asked in a cold tone, her eyes burned with anger.

"No, I came back because she told me too. She told me everything that happened between the two of you and how she asked you to keep it all to yourself." He spoke softer now, his face relaxing as he moved closer to Spencer, leaving no space between them. He moved each hand to rest on either side of her, and looked right into her brown eyes. "I'm sorry for leaving you the way I did. I thought about it every day and I wish I never left you here alone."

Spencer stared back into his blue ones and found herself having trouble breathing again. She had dreamed of this moment when he would come back; hold her close and it would be as if he never left. "_But he did leave." _Her mind reminded her and she quickly pulled out of his hold as some tears started to fall.

She noticed the hurt flash in his eyes and then it was gone, just like he was all those years ago. "Toby...I can't do this." She said as she wiped the falling tears from her eyes and took a step away from him. She needed space between them to catch her breath.

"Do what Spencer?" He whispered as he tried to get closer to her again but stopped when she raised her hand.

"Pretend that everything is okay because it's not!" She cried as she put her hand back to her side. "You have no idea what your leaving did. It nearly killed me Toby." She confessed.

"It was hard on me too Spencer." He said missing the double meaning of her words. He raised an eyebrow when she laughed. "What?"

"I wasn't speaking figuratively Toby." Spencer said laughing it off again as she turned her back and started walking away to hide more tears that began to fall down her face.

Toby was at her side in a second, grabbing her arm roughly as he turned her around to face him. "You can't just say that and walk away Spencer! You need to tell me what happened." He nearly screamed at her, he could not begin to imagine what could have happened that she would have come so close to death.

"I don't have to tell you a damn thing." She shouted back as she pulled her arm from his grip and then used both hands to push him away from her. Toby barely moved at her attempt, instead he wrapped both his arms around her body and pulled her right into his chest. "What the fuck! Let go of me now!" She yelled and tried to break out of his embrace.

"Not until you explain to me what caused you to nearly die." He tightened his hold on her when she began to punch at his chest with her fists.

"It was you damn it!" She yelled defeated after a few minutes of trying to fight against his strong arms. "I tried to kill myself because you left me alone and I couldn't move on like you wanted, not without you." Suddenly feeling weak, she allowed herself to fall against his body and sob into his chest. His hands began to massage her back in soothing circles as he rested his head next to her own.

"Shhh, It's okay Spencer. I'm here now, you won't be alone anymore, I promise." He whispered in her ear and placed a kiss against her temple.

Toby listened to her cries and did his best to comfort her while she let out all the pain. He could not believe she had gone so far as to kill herself because of him. He was supposed to protect her, love her, care for her. He did none of those things, instead he broke her heart and mind enough to allow her to think there was no point to live. Toby silently cursed himself for the finale words he spoke to her; they had been hurtful and most likely what caused her downward cycle to begin.

When he heard her crying start to slow, he pulled her away from his body and placed both hands on her cheeks. Raising her face to look at him, he used his thumbs to wipe away the stains of her tears and looked deep into her broken brown eyes. His own eyes began to search for the girl he left behind all those years ago, but found no trace of her. The girl before him was unknown, a wall built higher than the last and he knew there was no bringing it down. "I'm sorry." Was his only answer, knowing the words held no justice to what had happened, but it was all that could be said if he was to ever earn her trust again.

Spencer raised a hand and gentle placed it over his own as she leaned into his touch. Closing her eyes, she took a moment to feel safe, to feel his love again. She knew that once she opened her eyes that this all would have to end. He would have to go back to his fiancée and she would go back to herself. Once again, alone, but this time she would be okay.

She slowly pulled his hand away from her face and took one-step back to allow space between them. She almost groaned when she felt the heat from their bodies start to disappear but she held her tongue, knowing how bad it would be to give into her emotions. "We should get back." She whispered before starting to walk in the direction of the bike.

Toby turned and quickened his pace until he was walking next to her. As he matched her stride, he put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer. He knew it was wrong to be acting this way but he missed her touch, her body pressed against his own. Her scent of vanilla and coconut still drove him crazy and ever since their first encounter at the club, he wondered how good it would feel to have her lips on his own again. "_You have Eva now you asshole. Spencer moved on, so have you. Act like it."_ His mind screamed at him.

Clearing his fiancée from his mind, he picked up the helmet once they returned to the bike. Facing Spencer, he placed the helmet on her head and smiled as she tried to fix her hair that he just messed up. "You look great Spence."

"Shut up." She smiled back as she rearranged some strands of hair that were in front of her eyes. After fixing her hair, she reached up to the handlebars to retrieve her bag and slipped it on her shoulder. She waited for Toby to get on the bike first then climbed on behind him, once again wrapping her slim arms around his strong body tightly.

Minutes later, they were speeding down the road towards the highway, back towards a life neither would admit to enjoying. The evening had not gone as planned but everything that needed to be said had been and the pair could start to move forward knowing the past was truly behind them.

When they arrived back at the club, the parking lot was barren except for Spencer's mustang. He pulled the bike once again in front of her car; placed one foot on the ground while the other pushed out the kickstand, then turned the bike off.

Allowing Spencer to climb off first, he waited and smiled again when she took the helmet off to more messy hair. "I think you found a new look." He joked as he shifted to get off the bike and moved to stand in front of her.

"You're a real comedian tonight aren't you, Mr. Cavanaugh?" She laughed as she used one hand to straighten out her hair, the other holding the helmet. Fed up with her hair, she placed the helmet between her knees and pulled her hair into a messy ponytail using the tie that sat on her wrist.

"Not my fault you make everything look so sexy." He replied as that boyish grin made its appearance once more for the night. This in turn rewarded him with the helmet slamming into his chest. "Ouch Spence, that hurt." He cried taking a half step back, still grinning.

"Good, now stop flirting with me or else I'll do worse." She said smiling and started towards her car while looking into her bag for her keys. She stopped at her door and muttered under her breath while she continued to search. A second later, she pulled out the keys and turned to say good night to Toby, only to smack right into his body. It seems he had followed behind and they now stood face to face.

Brown meeting blue, their breathing quickened as their lips stood inches apart. As If being pulled together like magnets, the gap between them began to close. Eyes fluttered shut and Toby placed his hands around her body. The moment he touch her, a jolt ran through her body causing her eyes to open and her head to turn at the last second. His lips meeting her cheek, and he pulled back confused. "Eva." Was all Spencer said and she felt his arms fall from her body as he took a few steps away from her.

Toby cleared his throat before speaking. "We still on for coffee this weekend?" He asked as he slowly made his way back to the bike.

"11am." Spencer smiled with a nod as she opened her car door. "Goodnight Toby."

"Goodnight Spence."

Spencer watched as he revved up the bike and drove out of the parking lot, looking back once before he disappeared out of view. "_Do not fall for him again Spencer. He is practically a married man. Be more careful next time."_ She told herself as she started up her own car and made her way out of the parking lot towards home. No matter what her mind said, she knew that it would take everything she had not to fall for his charm the next time they were together. Tonight she had almost kissed him and she swore to herself that she would not let it happen again.

Once at the apartment she quickly headed inside, kicked off her shoes into the living room while tossing her bag on the couch. She made her way down the hall and slipped quietly into Emily's room. Shutting the door behind her, she tip toed over to her friend's bed and laid down on top of the covers. " Em?" She whispered and smiled when Emily turned on her side to face her.

"You okay?" Emily's sleepy voice whispered back.

"Can I sleep in here tonight?"

Emily responded by lifting up the covers for her friend. "Hurry up Hastings." She muttered with her eyes still closed. Spencer smiled and shifted her body so she could pull the covers over herself. After settling into the bed, she finally closed her eyes, trying to clear her mind of the almost kiss with Toby. It did not seem to work, everything she thought of ended up taking her back to that moment of his lips being inches from her own. "_It's going to be a long night."_ She decided, not sure, if she meant it in a good or bad way. "_Good way."_ She smiled to herself as her mind pulled her back to when his strong arms held her and his gentle hands rubbed her back as she cried. Suddenly she could not wait for Sunday to arrive.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, what do you think? We found out why Toby left and why he was a jerk to poor Spencer, but of course I can't have it be that simple, what kind of writer would I be? Haha! There is more to Spencer's side of the story than the two are letting on. Did you figure out who 'she' is? (Not A or Allison mind you.) If you can't figure it out, It will get explained as the chapters go on, as will other questions I read from reviews. The drama just keeps getting better from here on out so I hope you stick with me! Thanks everyone!**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Chapter 9. I don't want to say too much, but ENJOY! :) Also I want to thank everyone who has reviewed my story so far, if it wasn't for your great reviews, I most likely would have stopped writing after chapter 2. So, a another big thanks to you all! Remember, if you like/love it, please review it! Thanks!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pretty Little Liars**.

**Chapter 9:**

Friday came and went quicker than Spencer expected. When she had gotten up that morning Emily was waiting to hear all the details, which she told her, leaving out the part of their almost kiss. When asked how she felt about the whole night, Spencer just brushed it off saying it had been time to close that chapter of her life and move on.

Today was the day of Jake's 5th birthday party and Spencer and Emily were both in the bathroom getting ready. "Have you seen my eye shadow?" Spencer asked as she looked through a small make-up bag.

"Yeah sorry, I borrowed it the other night and forgot to put it back. Here you go." Emily said as she pulled it from her own small bag.

Spencer nodded in thanks and moved back towards the mirror to finish her make-up. "Thanks for coming with me today. I hate going to these parties's solo and having no one to talk to."

"Isn't your whole family going to be there?"

"My point exactly, my extended family tends to show/brag off more than my immediate family if you could believe that. Therefore, you can only imagine how much fun they have talking to me when they visit."

"Well then, you are welcome." Emily said smiling as she pictured the looks Spencer would receive when they heard she worked at a 'bar' for a living. "I bet you're happy to see your boys today. What's it been, three days since you last saw them?"

Spencer nodded as her face beamed with a huge smile. "Just about three days." The twins, Tristan and Nathan, have been living with Spencer's parents for the last few years. It was an agreement all three of them had come up with so Spencer could finish her schooling and work whatever hours she needed to support her family. No matter how many times her father told her they would take care of the needs of the twins, she turned him down and would send a check to cover the costs for them to live there.

"Next week we have to tackle that third room and get it ready for the boys." Spencer reminded Emily as she zipped up her make-up bag and placed it in a drawer. "I told my mom that it would be ready by the end of the month."

"With the help of the girls we will have that room ready to go in a matter of days after we start. Also, I am sure we can rope Ezra and Caleb into helping move the heavy stuff into the room if we bribe them with pizza and beer."

Spencer laughed. "Good thinking Em. I was wondering how the four of us was going to move a lot of that furniture up two flights of stairs to the apartment."

The girls finished getting ready for the party and were soon making their way out of the apartment to Spencer's mustang. Minutes later, they were driving towards the highway to the Hastings residence.

"Are you going to tell Aria and Hanna about Toby kidnapping you the other night?" Emily asked breaking the silence that had fallen over the pair.

"He didn't kidnap me." She said rolling her eyes. "I wasn't planning on it. Unless you think I should?"

"He blocked your car with his motorcycle and refused to move it until you took a ride with him. That is kidnapping. Yes you should tell them, otherwise Hanna will be pissed if she hears about it from someone else."

"God forbid that happens, I'll never hear the end of it." Spencer joked and Emily just smiled in return.

"I'm pretty sure either way you're not going to hear the end of it. Hanna is going to ask a million questions to make sure she gets very detail out of you."

"I wouldn't expect anything less from her." She laughed as she pulled the car off the highway and turned onto one of the familiar streets of Rosewood. "So why didn't you tell him off when he called you?" A question sitting in the back of her mind ever since he said he called Emily.

Emily sighed and looked down at her bag before she spoke. "I felt guilty about what happened at the mall. I sort-of already knew that he was dating someone. I was planning on telling you that morning but you had told me to call the girls over to talk and I didn't want to say anything in front of them."

Spencer's eyes widened and she gripped the steering wheel tighter. "When did you find out?" she voiced out slowly to keep the anger at bay.

"I've known for a few months now." She whispered and scrunched up her face waiting to hear Spencer scream at her.

"Months?" She cried out as she looked over at her friend quickly then back at the road. Feeling overwhelmed Spencer flipped on her blinker, pulled off the road to the shoulder, and placed the car in park. With her hands still gripping the wheel, she took a few deep breaths to calm herself before speaking again. "Please explain to me how you have known for months and didn't feel the need to tell me at all?"

"My mom still works at the station and they had a big engagement party for him after he announced it. She called to give me the heads up and I just never found the right time to tell you. I honestly did not think he would be out here in Philly so I took a chance and kept it to myself. How was I supposed to know that you two would meet back up again at the club?"

"Emily, I go to Rosewood every couple of days to see the boys. What if I was out in town with them and Toby saw us! Do you have any idea how many questions he would have started throwing at me. Ones I don't even have answers too!" Spencer groaned and banged her head on the steering wheel a few times.

"I understand that Spence, but he's been back for months now and the first time you saw him, it was at work. Not in Rosewood. Boys are still safe and your answers are still hidden. I'm so sorry for not saying anything sooner." Emily reached over and placed her hand on Spencer's arm.

Spencer placed one of her own hands on Emily's and gave it a squeeze. "I know Em, I'm sorry for snapping at you. This whole situation just drives me crazy and I just want it all to go back to normal."

"It will." Emily reassured her with a smile. "Now we have a party to attend too and we are already late, so let's go."

With that, Spencer shifted the car back into drive and continued the drive to her parent's house. Minutes later the mustang pulled into a very packed driveway and cut off after finding an empty spot. The girls grabbed their bags and birthday gift before making their way to the busy backyard that was swarming with kids of all ages running and screaming.

"Spencer! Emily!" Melissa's voice shouted towards them and they turned to see her making her way to the pair. "You made it! Thanks for coming." She smiled and hugged each girl quickly.

"Of course, wouldn't miss this for the world." Spencer smiled back and looked around. "Where is the birthday boy?"

"Last I saw he was running around playing tag with the kids having a blast." She laughed as she waved her hand behind her towards the guest. "How about we go inside for a minute and get some drinks." Melissa said placing a hand behind each of the girls and started to push them into the house.

Spencer threw a glance at Emily as they walked into the house. Something did not feel right as to the way Melissa was acting. "What's going on?" She asked as she placed her bag and the gift on the kitchen table.

"Why would you think anything is going on? Wine for you girls?" She asked nervously as she went to the cabinet to get glasses.

"Ok cut the crap Melissa." Spencer said annoyed. "Something is up, spill."

Melissa turned back around slowly and carefully placed the two glasses on the counter in front of her. She moved to grab an opened wine bottle and poured the red substance in each glass before speaking. "You might want to drink this first." She slid one glass towards her little sister.

"Do I even want to know?" Spencer groaned again as she took a big gulp of the wine.

Melissa waited until the glass was safely back down on the counter and then moved closer to her. "Toby and his fiancée are here." As soon as the words left her mouth, her hand jumped to keep Spencer from leaving the room. "Wait a minute! Let me explain before you make an ass of yourself."

Spencer's only thought in her head was the make sure Toby stayed away from her boys. She had not even had time to talk to them and she was sure as hell not going to let Toby start asking questions to her kids. "Melissa, the boys…"

"Know what to say if asked. Dad spoke to them this morning and they understood that they had to lie while here at the party. He made it like a game so they would remember." Melissa paused for a second as she let go of Spencer's arm. "I didn't invite them. You know how Nick has friends at the station, well they thought it would be good for the new guy to make some friends so they asked and Nick couldn't say no without questions behind asked." She explained and pushed the glass closer to her. "Drink."

Spencer raised the glass to her lips and finished off the wine in seconds. Her head was spinning and not because of the wine. Her ex-boyfriend was at her house, with all her family here and she had to try to keep her cool for the next three hours. "I need another drink." She muttered as she reached for the bottle to fill her glass.

"It's going to be fine Spence. The yard is so big I'm sure you guys won't even see each other until it's time for cake." Emily tried to offer but shrugged when Spencer shot her a 'yeah right' look.

"There you girls are! I've been looking all over the place." Veronica's voice suddenly sounded into the kitchen. "Did Melissa fill you in honey?" She asked as she placed her hand on Spencer's back, rubbing it gently.

"Yes, and everything will be fine." Spencer lied through her smile and picked up her glass as she moved away from the counter. "I'm going to go find Jake to wish him a happy birthday."

"Emily, can you keep an eye on her today?" Veronica asked watching her daughter leave the kitchen into the yard.

"Of course Mrs. Hastings, I'll watch her drinking too." Emily smiled knowing that Spencer tended to drink more when alcohol was present during stressful times.

"Thank you Emily, you're a great friend to her."

Emily nodded and grabbed her own glass that was on the table before making her way out of the room to find her friend.

"Does she know that he is coming back later to surprise her?" Veronica whispered once she was sure Emily had left the room.

"No and I think it's a bad idea for him to do it while at the party with everyone here." Melissa said worried. The girls had not always gotten along, but after Spencer's attempted suicide, they had found a balance in their relationship and started to rebuild their bond as sisters.

"I agree but I can't stop him honey. He feels bad about leaving the way he did and wants to make it up to her and he thinks that this was the best opportunity with all her family around."

"I just hope a fight doesn't break out." Melissa muttered under her breath.

Out in the yard Spencer had found the birthday boy and was kneeling next to him smiling. "Happy birthday Jake!" She pulled him in for a big hug and laughed as he pulled away quickly, embarrassed in front of his friends. "Ok no hugs, how about a high five instead?" She held out her hand and he happily reached up to hit her hand.

"Thanks Aunt Spencer!" He was off again chasing his friends around the tables. Spencer laughed again and stood up holding her wine glass close to her chest. Her eyes began to scan for her twins and finally spotted them playing with a group of boys by the swing-set. Smiling, she started to walk towards their direction.

Halfway to her boys a figure stepped out in front her, causing her to stop dead in her tracks. "Spencer!" The voice beamed with excitement and pulled her into a half hug.

"Oh…uh, Hey there Eva." Spencer choked out in surprise and awkwardly returned the hug. "Having a good time?" She asked playing nice.

"Yes, everyone is so nice and friendly towards Toby and me. I am happy that we got a chance to come and mingle with new friends from town. It will help make the move a lot easier knowing some of our neighbors." She smiled at Spencer, showing off her bright white teeth before turning and calling for him. "Toby, come say hi to Spencer, we just ran into each other as she was walking past."

Ran into was an understatement, it was more as if Eva pounced on her like a meal to make small talk. "_More like to rub Toby in my face."_ She thought as she watched Eva place one arm around Toby and her other hand resting on his stomach while she leaned close into his body.

"Hey Spence." His deep voice breaking her focus on Eva and she looked to meet his blue eyes. She knew if she stared any longer, she would get lost in those eyes again, just like so many years ago.

"Hey" She was surprised that her voice sounded nervous, so she quickly raised her glass to her lips and turned her head to break their connection. Luckily, for her, Eva did not notice the long exchange of their hello. "Having a good time?" She repeated her question to Toby this time.

"Yeah, I forgot how crazy Hastings get together end up, but we are having a great time. Did you just get here?" He asked as he took a sip of his beer, while his other hand rested on Eva's arm.

Spencer nodded and opened her mouth to speak but a small voice cut in first. "Hi Mama! When did you get here? I've been running around and playing a lot of games." Nathan smiled up at his mother and hugged her leg. Her eyes quickly glanced to Toby, whose own eyes widened after her son spoke. "Hey baby." Spencer smiled back as she turned her attention back to her son and kneeled down to hug him. "That sounds like a lot of fun, how much candy did you eat?" She took in her son's bouncing around to know he had a good amount of sugar in his system.

He held up six fingers and suddenly laughed running to chase another little boy who tapped his shoulder screaming 'tag' as he ran away. Spencer stood up with a smile and watched him disappear into the sea of guest before turning back to look at Toby and Eva.

"Your son is so adorable, how old is he?" Eva asked once Spencer turned to look at them.

"Thanks." She smiled but her eyes scanned to Toby's quickly and she swore he looked jealous before he turned his head in a different direction. "He is just turned 6." She lied through her smile as she looked back at Eva. "He is actually a twin; his brother is running around here somewhere. Speaking of which, I should probably go find him. I'll talk to you both later." Spencer spoke fast and moved away from the couple back towards the house. On her way to the house, she found Emily talking to a couple and grabbed her arm when she got closer. "Excuse us; I just need to borrow Emily for a moment. Thanks." Spencer smiled then pulled Emily with her towards the front of the house.

"Spencer, what's going on?" Emily asked as Spencer pulled her through the parked cars in the driveway.

"Toby and Eva encounter." Was all Spencer said still walking now towards the street.

"Okay, why do we have to go all the way out here to talk about it?" Emily questioned once they stopped and Spencer looked around as if someone was following them.

"Because I don't need anyone eavesdropping when I tell you about what happened. So, I was walking towards the boys when Eva freaking sneak attacks me with a hug. Being the nice person I am, I asked if she was having a good time and she starts bragging about how great everyone is and how she is happy to know her new neighbors." Spencer said mimicking Eva the best she could.

"I don't see the problem Spencer." Emily said trying not to laugh at how crazy her friend was sounding right now.

"I'm not finished telling you what happened. Anyway, next thing I knew, Nathan had walked up to me and called me mama in front of Toby and I swear, I thought his eyes were going to pop out of his head. When Eva asked me how old Nate was, I lied. I told her he just turned six, I think Toby relaxed when he heard it, but he would not look at me. I even told them about Tristan then I panicked and excused myself, found you and here we are." Spencer finally got out with a huff.

Emily was just staring at her with a smile on her face. "Spence, I think you just had too much wine in one sitting because I don't see what the big deal is. Did you expect Toby and Eva not to find anything out during the party? They would have seen you with the boys at some point, better to get it out in the open now while you are still sober instead of later when you are wasted and spilling out all your secrets."

Spencer nodded after Emily finished speaking. It was true, Toby would have found out about the twins at some point during the party and she was somewhat glad that it was from her. "I wondering how many questions started buzzing through his head when he heard Nathan call me mama."

"I bet he started doing a lot of math in his head before he heard you say his age. Man, I wish I was standing next to you when that went down." Emily laughed and pulled Spencer into a hug. "Try not to worry about anything else today. We came here to celebrate Jake's birthday, not hide from your ex boy-friend and his fiancée."

"Thanks Em, your right. Let's go back to the party and have some fun." She squeezed Emily back and leaned into her as they walked towards the backyard again.

The next two hours, Spencer did her best to avoid Toby and Eva by keeping busy with helping Melissa or playing games with her boys. Every now and then, she would feel his eyes watching her, and the urge to look back was starting to weigh on her. "_Don't give in Spencer."_ She repeated in her mind trying to be strong but her feelings got the best of her. Slowly raising her head, her eyes instantly found his; a smile foamed on his lips, leading her to send her own smile before looking back towards her sons.

"Hey everyone gather around the birthday boy! It's time to sing happy birthday and eat some cake!" Nick's voice shouted across the yard and everyone cheered and started towards a big table where the cake sat.

Spencer and the twins stood by Melissa, Nick and Jake at the head of the table, while she noticed Toby and Eva took a place to stand near the other end of the table. Emily moved behind Spencer and whispered in her ear. "You need to stop." She joked and nudged her friend in the ribs.

"I haven't a clue to what you are talking about." Spencer whispered back and poked Emily's rib in return.

"Sure you don't." She rolled her eyes but let it go and started singing the birthday song with everyone else.

While everyone was staring and singing at Jake, Spencer knew Toby was paying attention to her instead. To keep herself from looking back at him, she kneeled down next to the chairs the twins sat in and finished singing the birthday song with all the other guests.

After the song was finished, cheering began as Jake blew out the candles on his cake. Minutes later, slices of cake made their way down the table and the chatter resumed. Spencer stayed with the twins, laughing as they teased each other while eating; she even joined in, trying to steal some cake from their plates.

"No fair mama, you have your own plate." Tristan laughed as he covered his plate with his hands.

"I know, but your slice looks better than mine. So does yours." She smiled and tried to take some of Nathans, but he blocked his as well. "How come I can't share with you, but you take my food all the time?"

"That's because you let us!" Nathan laughed and forked more cake into his mouth. Tristan nodded his mouth too full to speak.

"Good point smarty pants." She kissed the top of both their heads and went back to her own cake. The boys rushed away from the table after a few more bites, allowing Emily and herself to sit in the open chairs. "The boys are going to be on such a sugar high tonight, I feel somewhat bad for my parents."

"No you don't." Emily said smiling and laughed aloud when she saw Spencer nod her head in agreement. "Just wait, few more weeks and we are going to deal with those crazy boys every day."

"I can't wait." Spencer beamed as she watched the twins playing with their friends. "It's going to be great having them at the apartment so we can be a family again."

The girls continued to chat until Melissa appeared behind Spencer's chair and waved her hand to grab their attention. "Sorry for butting in, but Spencer can you go out to the garage to get more garbage bags? We want to start the presents and I can't find a single one out here."

"Yeah sure Melissa, I'll be right back." Spencer smiled as she got up from her chair and started to walk towards the driveway.

"Thanks, you're the best!" Melissa shouted after her, then turned to whisper to Emily and the pair left the table as well.

Soon Spencer was in the garage looking high and low for the garbage bags, when she spotted the roll sitting on a high shelf above her father's BMW. "You have got to be kidding me." She muttered to herself and started to look for something to stand on. "I'm going to kill the person who thought it was a good idea to put them up here."

After searching for a few minutes, she finally found a tall wooden box and placed it down under the shelf. Carefully placing one foot on the box, she judged if it would support her full weight, and when it did not break, she placed her other foot on as well. As she reached up it became clear she was still a few inches shy and pushed her body up on her toes to reach the roll.

Once her fingers took hold of the plastic, a loud cracking came from under her feet. Within seconds, she was falling backwards towards the concrete floor until two strong arms caught her body. "Talk about falling for a guy." Toby's amused voice broke through as he slowly placed her on the ground.

"What are you doing in here?" Spencer asked surprised as she took a step back from him, gripping the plastic garbage bags in her hands.

"I watched you walking out this way and was hoping we could talk in private for a minute." He had placed both his hands deep into his pockets and was rocking slowly on his heels, a nervous habit he developed as a kid. He paused for a moment waiting for her to speak, when she did not, he continued. "I'm going to get right to the point. Why didn't you tell me that you had kids?"

Spencer did not realize she was holding her breath but slowly let it out as she spoke. "You never asked." She vaguely gave him and started to walk past towards the door, but Toby quickly blocked her path.

"I want a real answer Spencer." He spoke clearly getting annoyed. "Were you afraid to tell me the truth?"

"_If you only knew,"_ She thought to herself as she gripped the bags even tighter in her small hands. Not wanting to show her nervousness, she decided to come off with a little attitude. "Like you really care if I told you the truth or not." She tried to push past him again, but he placed a hand on her arm to stop her.

"I care about everything you tell me Spence, and you should have known that I would never have judged you."

"You judging me is the least of my worries Toby." She laughed bitterly. "I have to get these to Melissa so please move out of my way."

"No, not until you talk to me. Why did you hide that part of your life from me? Are you embarrassed about being a single mother?"

She glared at him as her jaw clenched, she would not be able to stop the anger from slipping out with her words. "I am not a single mother for your information and where do you come off talking to me like that?"

"If you're not a single mother, where is their father? Because from where I'm standing, I don't see the dead beat here with any of you." Toby started, his own anger coming through as he spoke. "I'm also going to guess that if there was a man in the picture, he wouldn't approve of your night time strip show as a good role model for his kids. But seeing how there really isn't any father figure, I'm going out on a limb and say that their dad was probably from a one night stand gone wrong."

The more Toby spoke, the more pissed Spencer got. Each word that fell from his lips hit her hard with rage and she was losing control of her body. Before she could stop herself, her hand swung out and slapped him hard across the face. "You're a fucking asshole." Was all she said as she pushed past him towards the door.

Seconds later her body swung around only to have her back pushed roughly against the door. As she opened her mouth to curse, his lips crushed onto her own to keep her silent. She felt one of his hands moved to rest on her hip while the other moved to the back of her head, running his fingers through her brown hair.

Caught in the moment, she parted her lips to allow him to deepen the kiss, which Toby took full advantage. As the kissing intensified, Toby moved his hand off her hip to her back and pulled her tighter into his body. This kiss was different from their normal, because this one held so many emotions that each had been holding onto for the last seven and a half years. It started out in anger, and then regret to end with want and need.

As quickly as it started, Spencer now aware of their actions broke away from the kiss. When she pushed Toby away from her body, she swore she heard him groan in frustration. Without saying a word, her hand reached back to the doorknob and once open, slipped out not looking back.

Catching her breath between parked cars, she slowly made her way back to the party with her mind still racing from Toby's sudden desire to kiss her. Stopping to look at her reflection in a car window, Spencer did her best to fix her hair and straighten out her top. Nodding in approval, she continued into the backyard right for the table that Melissa and Emily were setting up with the gifts.

"Spencer, finally, what took so long?" Melissa asked as she took the bags out of her sister's hand and opened one up.

"Had trouble finding the bags, seems dad thought it was a good idea to put them on a high shelf. So I had to climb some boxes to get them down, which is why it took forever." She offered while trying to avoid eye contact with her sister and Emily.

"Well that would explain why you look so flustered right now." Melissa said smiling and held out her wine glass for Spencer to take. "Here, this should help with your rosy red cheeks."

"Thanks." Spencer said taking the glass and took a big sip, still not making eye contact with Emily. Instead, her eyes scan the party guests, looking to see if he made his way back into the crowd, back to his fiancée.

Her eyes suddenly widen at the sight of him, the glass in her hand began to slip from her fingers down towards the grass. He was kneeling down in front of the twins, smiling as he pulled them both into a big hug. One of the boys pulled back and pointed right at her from across the yard. When their eyes locked, she felt her breathe get caught in her throat and she was instantly frozen to the ground. His smile grew bigger as he stood; and he picked up both boys into his arms before making his way to where she was standing.

Spencer thought the world had turned into slow motion, because it felt like it was taking forever for him to get to her. When he finally reached her location, he carefully let each boy down from his arms, but remained holding their hands. "Hello again." He casual spoke, his smile never leaving his lips.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Sorry for the long delay for the new chapter, but here it is. I want to say sorry in advance for any spelling/grammer mistakes you guys find with any of these chapters. They get written very late at night and I try my best to catch my mistakes but no one is perfect when they are sleepy. :) If you guys like/love it, please review it. Also, thank you again for all the reviewers that have given feedback at this moment. Enjoy everyone. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pretty Little Liars**.

* * *

**Chapter 10:**

Spencer remained frozen in shock, her breathing fast paced from feeling everyone's eyes on her. She suddenly knew that whatever happened next between the two would be the hottest gossip that this town has even had.

A small hand reached out and took her hand into his little one. "Mama, daddy's here!" Nathan's happy voice carried to her ears and she looked down at her son with a half smile.

"I see that baby." She raised her head to meet his eyes once more. "Can we go talk for a minute?" She motioned towards the house with her hand, and then looked back at the boys. "How about you both go play some more with your friends, we will be right back."

"Okay mama!" The boys replied together and after a quick hug to their father, they were off running towards the swing set.

As Spencer turned to walk towards the house, Emily grabbed her arm. "Are you okay with this?" She whispered to her friend, concern written over her face.

"Cat's out of the bag now, nothing I can do to hide it anymore." Spencer muttered softly and gave her a weak smile. "I'll be back in a few, watch them for me." She said as she looked back at her boys once more before moving again towards the house.

As she walked through the grass, her eyes remained focused straight ahead, putting on a brave front to all the guests who eyes burned holes into her body.

Arriving in the kitchen of the house, she found him sitting at the island with a beer in his hand. This whole time, that boyish smile never left his face. Fighting the urge to slap him again, she moved to stand by the sink, resting her back against the counter folding her arms in front of her chest and shot him a glare.

"What the hell did you think you were doing out there?" Spencer had enough of the quiet that passed between the two as they were just staring at each other. When he did not answer, she almost growled in anger. "I cannot believe that after everything that happened, you would have the balls to do something like that. Especially in front of my family and their friends, who are going to have a field day with this once the party is over." She began to rant her frustrations to him, only to get more pissed when he continued to sit on the stool, smiling at her like an idiot.

"Are you really just going to sit there and not say anything at all to explain yourself?" She asked dropping her arms to her side and pushed herself away from the counter when he did not reply again. "Fine, come find me when you're done being an asshole and want to talk."

Walking past the island was what he was waiting for and he reached his hand out, gentle grabbing her hand and pulled her to stand between his legs. Smiling at her surprised eyes, he reached his other hand to the side of her face and pulled her closer as he leaned up to connect their lips. This kiss was warm and passionate but brief as he pulled away slightly, grinning at her closed eyes. "I've missed this Spencer Hastings." He whispered.

Opening her brown eyes moments later, she returned a smile and placed both of her hands on either side of his scruffy face. "I've missed _you_ Wren Kingston." She whispered back as she leaned down to kiss him again.

"So I see you two finally made up." Peter Hastings voiced with a laugh as the pair quickly broke apart looking embarrassed. "Melissa wanted me to let you know we are starting the gifts." He smiled once more before leaving them alone again.

"Wait a second Spence." He said softly, his British accent making her weak in the knees when he spoke her name. "We still need to have that talk."

"Later. I promise." She smiled as she tugged on his hand pulling him up from the barstool. "Let's get through the rest of the party and after we can talk about everything." She told him as she looked deep into his brown eyes, before leaning up to place a quick kiss on his lips.

Wren smiled with a nod of his head and allowed her to lead them outside towards an inpatient Melissa. "Hurry up you two! We don't have all day!" He heard her call the second they stepped foot onto the grass.

"Calm down will ya." Spencer joked to her sister as they made their way to stand by the twins. "Alright Jake! Open up those gifts!"

Spencer knew his eyes were on her the moment she left the house. She knew if she made contact, she would see the hurt and betrayal in his blue eyes. Her heart suddenly felt heavy, her stomach twisting in knots, her mind racing back and forth between the two men that stood before her.

As she watched Jake open his gifts, her mind continued its inner battle of Toby vs. Wren. Toby was her past as Wren was her present, which left the future wide open for either man. Wren and her relationship was nothing more than dating, even after the twins had been born. Being the strong and independent woman that she is, Spencer had refused Wren's marriage proposal many times. Her answer was always the same. "_I carried these boys as they grew inside of me all by myself, and I'll be damned if I need a man to help me raise them now that they are out of me."_

The last seven and a half years had proven to be a series of difficulties for their relationship, pushing their limits and testing their love. For the last year alone, Spencer had wondered if Wren was ever coming back to Rosewood to be with the boys and her. Wren is a part of a program called 'Doctors without Borders', his job requiring a lot of overseas travel for months at a time. Before leaving for his last trip, the pair had decided to call it quits once more, saying that they had grown apart and had different ideas about the futures of the boys.

Spencer focused her attention to her boys, smiling as she watched them laughing and shouting every time Jake opened one of his gifts. Those boys had been the reason her and Wren stayed together for so long but Spencer's lack of interest to find a new job had started to get to him and seemed to be the main point in all their fights. He hated the idea of strange men getting off while watching his girl friend dance around in slutty outfits, as he liked to call them.

She would always brush it off and end the fight by leaving; she could never tell him that being a stripper was her way to feel alive while still having a mist of danger linger in the air after every night. She thrived on the rush of wondering if one of those nights would be her last due to a drunken stranger thinking he could take advantage of a weak stage girl.

Shifting her eyes from the boys, she looked over at Wren with guilt in her eyes. Her heart tightened against her chest as the kiss Toby gave her pushed into her mind, the feeling of his hands still felt on her skin. Closing her eyes, she shook her head softy to shake the thought away and when she opened her eyes, they met Wren's.

"You okay?" He asked softly as he took her hand into his own and used his thumb to rub small circles on her palm.

"I am now." She smiled and leaned up to place a quick kiss against his lips before turning her attention towards Jake. If she had stared any longer into his loving brown eyes, she would have broken down and confessed to the kiss that happened between her and Toby. "_Not the time or place to have that conversation."_ She reminded herself as she felt his strong arm wrap around her waist and he stepped forward pressing their bodies together. Without looking up at him, she placed one of her hands on his chest as she rested her head on his shoulder. Closing her eyes, she listened to the rhythm of his heart beating; she took in his scent of old spice cologne and smiled when his chest vibrated against her as he laughed.

"Jake, please tell everyone thank you for coming to your party and for the gifts please." Melissa voice reached her ears and Spencer opened her eyes to see that Jake had indeed finished opening all his gifts.

"Thank you everyone for coming to my party and for getting me really cool gifts!" Jake shouted at the top his lungs, causing many of the guests to laugh in response as they shouted back their welcomes. Seconds later, Jake asked his friends to follow him as he grabbed as many toys as he could in his little arms and ran towards the house.

Spencer laughed as the twins quickly broke away from her and Wren to follow the group. "Do you want some help cleaning up Melissa?" Spencer asked as she pulled away from Wren to grab some of the wrapping paper from the ground.

"That would be great, Thanks Spence."

"Spence, I'm going to go get another beer, I'll be right back." Wren said as he placed a kiss on her cheek before disappearing through the sea of guests.

When Spencer was sure that Wren was out of sight, she balled up some wrapping paper and threw it at Melissa with a glare. "Did you invite him to this party?"

"What? No! He called mom and dad and asked if he could come to surprise you!" Melissa hissed back at her sister, throwing her own balled up paper in her direction.

Spencer leaned forward on the table, her hands resting flat against the hard plastic. "I don't believe you. Mom and dad know that he broke everything off with me before he left for Africa, what is the real reason he is here?"

"I'm telling you the truth, if anyone knows anything else; it would be mom and dad. Go speak with them."

"Uh Spencer." Emily's voice interrupting the sisters bickering as she pointed a hand towards the side yard. "You might have a bigger problem on your hands in a minute."

Spencer allowed her eyes to follow Emily's hand and they widened when they saw Toby and Wren standing only inches away from each other. They looked to be having a heated discussion, fear spread over Spencer as she quickly sprinted towards the pair.

Once she was close enough, she slipped her body between the two and rested a hand on each of their chests, pushing them in opposite directions. "What the hell is going on here?" She asked, her voice sounding clearly annoyed.

Toby did not reply as his eyes stayed locked on Wren. Spencer noticed that he had his fist clenched at his side, a clear sign that he was near ready to hit Wren.

"The carpenter and I were just catching up, nothing to worry about Spence." Wren flashed a bright smile and pulled Spencer into his body, pressing a kiss to her lips. "I'm going to find the boys." Wren shot Toby a glare as he turned to walk away.

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" Her attention turned to Toby who was already turning to leave as well. "Toby, talk to me." She spoke as she grabbed his arm to stop him from moving and pulled him to look back at her face. "What were you two talking about?"

Toby stared hard into her brown eyes, his lips in a thin line on his angered face. "Eva is waiting for me in the car; please tell your family thank you for the invite to the party, we had a good time." As the words flowed from his mouth, she could tell he was trying to hold back any hate from his voice.

Spencer watched as he retreated to the driveway as soon as he finished speaking, her expression confused as her mind wondered what Wren had said to Toby to make him that mad. She made her way back over to Emily and Melissa; both had looks of concern on their faces.

"What happened? What were they fighting about?" Melissa asked in a hushed tone.

"I haven't a clue. Neither would tell me anything, both just walked away after I got there. Toby left the party, and Wren went to find the boys."

"I will bet all of Jake's birthday gifts that they were fighting about you." Melissa said with a knowing smile as she picked up her wine glass taking a small sip.

"No need to bet his gifts. I agree with you 100%. Both of them looked like they were about to have a punching match right in the middle of the guests. I'll find out the details later tonight, but right now, let's get this party wrapped up." Spencer began picking up the remaining gifts as Emily and Melissa moved to another table to clear.

The last hour of the party flew by for the girls as they ran around cleaning and saying goodbye to guests. Jake and the twins had made their way into the house, playing in the living room with the new car set Jake received as a gift.

"Hey Boys, Come give us a hug and kiss goodbye." Spencer said as she walked into the room with Emily and Wren in tow.

"You're leaving already?" Nathan questioned as he ran right into Wren's arms. "You just got here daddy and we didn't even get to play very long."

Wren picked up the small boy and gave him a tight hug. "I know buddy, I'll be here right thing in the morning with mommy and we can all spend the day together, how does that sound?" He smiled and turned his attention to Tristan. "We can go to the batting cages and you can show your old man how to hit a few okay?"

Tristan smiled and jumped up from the floor, quickly making his way towards Wren. "Can we go today instead? I've been practicing and I can hit every ball that is thrown at me."

"I would love nothing more than to go right now Tris, but I have to run by the hospital to drop off paperwork from my trip." Wren placed a hand on his shoulder, giving him a small squeeze. "I promise tomorrow morning we will have a great time at the cage. How about you give your mother a kiss and hug goodbye, she looks a little left out." He teased as he placed Nathan on the ground.

Spencer held out her arms and smiled at her boys. "Yeah, share some of those hugs with me please." Both of them ran into her arms and hugged her tight, kissing each side of her cheek. "That's better; I've wanted these hugs and kisses all day!" She pulled away and nodded her head towards Emily. "How about you guys give Aunt Emily some of these amazing hugs?"

"Aunt Emily!" Nathan shouted with a laugh and they moved her way, slamming there small bodies into her.

"My favorite twins!" She laughed returning the hug. "I can't wait till you two monsters move into the apartment. Just think of all the trouble we will get in to make mama mad." She teased shooting Spencer a wink.

"Yeah it's going to be a lot of fun! Can we set up a cool fort in our bedroom to play in?" Tristan asked looking back and forth between Spencer and Emily.

"Of course, it wouldn't be fun without a fort to play in. We can put your sleeping bags inside, get you guys some snacks and your toys, maybe even invite Jake and your friends over." Spencer listed off.

"Really? That would be so cool mama! Jake! We are going to have a fort at mama's house soon!" The boys rushed back over to their cousin with the exciting news.

"Bye boys, we will see you in the morning." Spencer called to them as the trio made their way out of the house. As they got outside, the girls walked over to the mustang and Emily got into the passenger seat, while Spencer stood by the driver side door with Wren. "Meet you back at the apartment?"

"I'll be by in a few hours. I'll bring dinner with me, any suggestions?"

Spencer smiled, reaching her hand out and tugged on his jacket, pulling him into her body and brought her lips close to his ear. "Yes, but I don't think they would work for dinner." She whispered and placed a small teasing kiss on his neck before pulling away to slip into the car.

"You are a mean woman Spencer Hastings." He chuckled to himself as he closed the driver door for her, stepped back giving a small wave as she pulled out of the driveway.

Hours later Spencer had the apartment to herself since Emily decided to spend the night with her girl friend, Paige McCullers, joking that she did not want to be up all night to hear their reunion.

While waiting for Wren, she took it upon herself to tidy up the apartment, her OCD kicking in to keep her mind off Toby and their kiss. Only after a few minutes of cleaning, her mind wandered over to the memory of Toby's lips pressed against her own. The way his hand tangled in her hair as he pulled her closer into his warm body.

"No. Stop it Spencer." She spoke aloud, shaking her head to rid the memory. "Wren is back and that is who you need to be thinking of, not Toby."

Saying his name caused his eyes flashed across her mind, those blue eyes staring deep into her own like he did all those years ago. How could he still look at her with such love and intensity that to this day made her heart skip, her stomach knot and her palms sweat? Why was she allowing him to have this effect over her body when she should be furious at him?

She ran her fingers over her lips, smiling softy at how much passion he put into that kiss, she had felt the want and need behind it when he pulled her closer into his body. Kissing Toby again sent sparks all over her body, awakening a part of her that she kept hidden for such a long time. During her stay in Radley, she learned to mask her feelings and replace them with false strength and confidence, not allowing anyone to break down her walls to see that she was still suffering on the inside. That kiss had shaken the walls within, sending small cracks to foam against her only defensive to keep her secrets safe.

"How can one kiss make everything fall apart?" She questioned as she walked towards the balcony, stepped outside and pulled a cigarette from her pack. As she let the dark smoke filter into her system, her eyes scanned out into the neighborhood. She watched the different cars passing on the road, the families walking on the sidewalk, laughter from the kids playing in their yard a few buildings down. She smiled as she thought about how soon that would be her children, laughing and running around the yard, but her smile faded.

"_Wren."_ Flicking the ash off the burning stick, she wondered if they would ever become a real family, like the ones she had been watching on the sidewalk. A question she was sure to ask him when he arrived for the night. Despite her earlier teasing, she knew they had a lot to figure out before anyone had any type of reunion.

The sudden sound of knocking pulled Spencer from her thoughts as she quickly smashed out the cigarette in the tray. A moment later, she was at the door greeting a smiling Wren. "Hey, come in." She said stepping aside to allow him to enter. "Emily is staying at Paige's place tonight, so we have the apartment to ourselves. "

"That was very kind of her." He smiled as he held up a brown paper bag. "Chinese food, is that okay?"

Spencer nodded, "Perfect, I'll get some plates, make yourself at home."

She met back with Wren in the living room, and watched him pull different containers from the bag. "What did you end up ordering?" She took a seat next to him on the couch, placing the plates and forks on the table in front of her.

"Just our favorites, chicken lo mein, sweet & sour chicken, mixed vegetables, egg rolls and pork fried rice." He listed off each one as he opened up the containers and began to put a little of everything on to each plate. "Here you go."

"Thank you." She smiled as she took the plate from his hands. "How did everything go at the hospital?" She questioned after a few moments of silence.

"Very well. I submitted my papers for a position at the hospital in their ER department. I start tomorrow night." He spoke carefully, watching her reaction.

The fork that was leading to her mouth froze a few inches away, her eyes widened at the news. "I'm sorry, you what tomorrow night?" She asked as she moved her plate to rest on the table and turned her body to face him directly.

Wren copied her move of placing his plate on the table before speaking. "I'm not going anywhere Spencer. I'm home for good, for you and the boys." Taking her hands into his own, he continued. "I want us to be a family, I've been thinking about this from the moment I left and I can't stand to be away from you three any longer."

Spencer looked down at their locked hands and felt her chest tighten, she was now worried where the conversation was headed. "What are you trying to say Wren?"

"Spencer Hastings, will you.." Wren's sentence cut off as his cell phone started ringing in his pocket. With a sigh, he pulled the ringing phone from his pocket and flipped it open. "Dr. Kingston speaking.." His conversation moved off the couch and out onto the balcony for more privacy. He returned five minutes later, sliding his phone back into his pocket. "I have an emergency at the hospital; I have to cut this night short, I'm so sorry. Can we finish this tomorrow after we get the boys?" He asked as he grabbed his jacket off the back of the couch and started towards the door.

Spencer got up to follow him, her face sporting a confused look. "Uh yeah, I guess it can wait till tomorrow. Call me later?" She stood next to the open door, her hand resting on the knob.

"It's going to be a late night; I'll just pick you up in the morning." He leaned forward and captured her lips in a quick kiss. "I'll see you tomorrow, goodnight."

"Night." She spoke as he retreated down the hall out of view. She stood at the door for a few more seconds, before closing it slowly. "I need another cigarette and maybe a drink or two." She muttered under her breath, walking straight to the balcony, to try to understand what just happened minutes ago.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Some of you might hate me for this one, but I think you all will love this chapter. (Hint: Spoby moment) I hope you all tell me what you thought about it in a review because I had a ton of fun writing it! Once again sorry for any spelling/grammer mistakes you might find. I do try my best to fix anything when I re-read before I post. Enjoy everyone!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pretty Little Liars**.

* * *

**Chapter 11:**

_Beep Beep_

Spencer rolled over onto her side and reached her hand out to hit her alarm clock. _Beep Beep_. The sound continued, making her to open her eyes and realize it was her phone making the sound. With a small groan, she reached over, grabbed her phone and tapped the screen to read her new message.

"_Have to cancel for today. –TC". _She sat up in her bed, resting her back against the headboard. Using her right hand, she rubbed her eyes before looking at her clock, _1:45a,_ the red numbers glaring back at her.

"Why on earth are you sending me a message at almost 2am and who gave you my cell number?" She quickly typed back and hit the send icon on the screen. Knowing that falling back asleep was never going to happen, she kicked her legs off the side of the bed and stood up, making her way out of the room.

As she switched on the light in the kitchen, her phone beeped signaling that she had a new message. Multitasking, she used one hand to open the message to read, while her other hand reached into the cabinet to grab a glass.

"_Took a chance in hopes you were still awake, guess I was right. I am a detective remember? I have my ways. ;)" _ She laughed softly to herself, having a pretty good idea that Emily gave up her number to him, most likely at the party.

"Would one of your ways involve asking my roommate for my number? FYI, you were wrong, I was asleep, thanks for waking me up from my beauty sleep, and you now owe me. :P" She typed and placed her phone on the counter after hitting the send icon. As she waited for his response, she filled up her glass with water and ice from the refrigerator.

_Beep Beep_

She found herself smiling as she walked the two steps back to the counter; she could not believe that a few text messages could make her heart race as she wondered what he typed.

"_I'm not at liberty to discuss. ;) You do not need any beauty sleep, you're gorgeous. How about I make it up to you right now, what do you say?"_

Spencer was not sure what shocked her more, that fact that Toby called her gorgeous or that he wanted to meet up tonight. Before she could even type a reply, a soft knock broke through to her ears, causing her to freeze in her tracks.

"Are you outside my apartment right now?" She wrote back and waited for his message to pop up.

"_:) Maybe..."_

"Shit." She muttered under breath and quickly put her phone down on the counter once more. Her hands flew over her hair, pulling out the tie that held her messy bun, letting her brown locks fall down to her shoulders. Her fingers raked through her hair in an effort to look presentable until she looked down at her outfit. She was wearing a very short pair of blue sleeping shorts with a tight fitted grey tank top. "Thank god I forgot to take my bra off before I fell asleep." She whispered as she walked barefooted over to the door.

Taking a deep breath, she slowly opened the door and to her amazement, Toby stood on the other side with that boyish grin on his face. "Hi." She smiled with a grin of her own as she moved off to the side to let him enter the apartment.

"Hey." Toby took a couple of steps in and turned around to look at Spencer as she shut the door behind her. While her back was turned, he took the opportunity to take in her appearance; his eyes started at her legs and moved up her body. Mesmerized by how well she kept in shape after all these years, he found himself comparing the two loves of his life. "_Spencer looks amazing in those shorts. Eva has never looked that good in a pair of shorts. I wonder if she still runs, or if she goes to the gym. She has to do something to keep fit; man I wish Eva would go running with me one morning." _

"See something you like?" Spencer asked with her hands rested on her hips and her head slightly tilted as she gave Toby an amused grin.

"Huh... No." He muttered breaking from his thoughts, he felt his cheeks turn red at being caught staring. When he saw her raise her eyebrow, he felt his nerves start to get the better of him. "I don't mean no, like I don't like what I see, because I do, you look amazing, I mean not like you don't look amazing every other time I've seen you, and I was just..." He said tripping on his words but when she laughed, he raised his hand to cover his face embarrassed that she made him feel like he was back in high school.

"Relax Toby, I was just teasing you." She laughed patting his arm as she passed him into the kitchen. "Want something to drink?"

"Water is fine with me." Toby followed behind, keeping his eyes on the ground so he would not be caught checking her out again. "_You have Eva, she has the doctor. Remember that Toby." _He reminded himself as he entered the kitchen and took a seat at the table.

"So you never explained what was with the 2am text message to cancel our morning date." She asked as she placed the glass of water on the table in front of him, before moving backwards to rest her body against the counter.

"I just figured with the doc..I mean, Wren back, you would want to spend the day with him." Toby said trying to keep the bitterness from his voice.

"Yeah, Wren...You want to tell me what happened between you two at the party? I have not had a chance to talk to him yet about it, but since you are here, I rather hear your side first. "

Toby studied her face, she did not seem angry at all; confused is the look that was written on her face. "I'm surprised that you waited so long to find out what happened. That isn't like you one bit."

"Scary isn't it?" She asked smirking at his raised eyebrow and placed her hands on the counter to host her body up to sit. "That I'm not the same person you once knew. I swear, you keep looking at me as if I am still 18. I have changed Toby and you have changed, we are all grown up now."

"You may be right, but I still know a lot about you that I'm sure hasn't changed in the last seven years." He said as he stood up and took the few steps to stand in front of her.

Spencer looked right into his blue eyes as he stood in between her legs and rested his hands on either side of her body. "Prove it." She whispered in her raspy voice, earning a grin from Toby.

Without breaking her eye contact, Toby moved his right hand to gentle touch her left thigh, running his fingers slowly down to her knee, stopping when his fingers found a barely visible scar. "You got this in junior year, field hockey game against Oakwood. Your guard slipped down and the other girl took a chance to take you out of the game."

Spencer remained silent as his hand move off her knee and felt as he trailed his fingers up to her forearm. "You got this one in middle school. You fell off your bike in the woods and managed to land right on the rocks. I think you had to get three or four stitches to close it up."

"Four. How do you even remember that?" She said trying to keep her breathing normal, but her heart began to race even harder as he pushed some of her hair away from her shoulder, exposing her neck, letting his fingers linger down towards her back. She closed her eyes as all his touches left her skin on fire; opening them again when he spoke.

"I told you Spence. " His voice was deep; his blue eyes turned darker as his eyes meet hers. "I know everything about you." He moved his head to the side of her exposed shoulder and started to place light kissing on her skin. "I know what makes you smiles." His moved his left hand off the counter, his fingers tracing up and down her right leg, causing Spencer to move her hand over his own, lacing their hands together.

Smiling against her skin, he moved his head to her neck, placing his lips next to her ear, he whispered. "I know what turns you on." Shifting down slightly, he began to suck and kiss the area below her ear, causing her to let out a low moan.

Spencer closed eyes as he continued his assault on her neck, she knew they should not be doing this, her mind was screaming at her to stop to him. "Toby.."She moaned as he bit down softly on her shoulder. "Toby please.." She was finding it hard to resist, she had missed these feelings that he was causing her. Her stomach felt like it was floating, her heart raced so hard that she was sure Toby could feel it through her shirt, her lips felt like they were pulsating, wanting and waiting for him to kiss them.

As if reading her mind, Toby removed his lips from her neck but instead of kissing her lips, he choose to pulled back to look at her face. He moved his right hand to the side of her face and rubbed his thumb against her cheek. "Spencer." His voice was very low, his breathing heavy but his eyes remained on her brown ones when she opened them.

She was not sure how long they had been staring at one another, but Spencer could not break his hold. Everything she knew about Toby, about their love, their relationship, it was staring at her from his ocean blue eyes. Suddenly nothing else matter, not Wren, not the twins, not her job or even the rest of her family. The only thing that seemed to matter was Toby was back in her arms, still looking at her with so much love and desirer after finding out everything he missed. There was no judgment in his eyes, something she was certain she would find when she looked. It was almost as if he did not blame her for listening to him when he said to move on, because he had done the same. They both found new people to love and started relationships in hopes to drown away the past.

With a shaken hand, Spencer reached out to touch Toby's face. Her hand started at his forehead, slowly moving down in between his eyes to his nose, finally resting on his lips. She traced his lips with her fingers, as she subconsciously wet her own, before biting down on her lower lip. She was fighting the urge to pull him into her body to crush their lips together again. She missed the way they fit pressed to each other, and she missed how his tongue felt against her own when he deepened their kiss.

At that very moment, it felt as if something blew up inside of her, her chest tightened and her stomach felt like she had butterflies dancing about, causing her body to tingle all over. Without warning, she pushed her body forward, slamming their lips together as her arms wrapped around his neck.

Toby was surprised at first, but quickly refocused on Spencer, one arm wrapped around her body; the other gripped her thigh, pulling her closer to his body. Biting on her bottom lip, he slipped his tongue into her mouth when she parted, a low moan escaping their kiss. A battle for dominance began with every movement of their lips, her hands moved from behind his head to the front of his shirt, slipping a hand under the material she smiled when she felt the definition of his stomach.

Breaking the kiss, she moved her lips along his jaw line, placing light kisses as she made her way to his neck. As her lips worked on sucking and kissing his pulse point, she pulled her hand away from his skin and began to un-do the buttons of his shirt. "Spencer" She heard him moan as she playfully bit his neck and smiled at the effect she was having on him. As her fingers unhooked the last button, she ran both of her hands over his chest and abdomen and pulled away from his neck as she brought her hands up to either side of his face, crushing their lips together again.

"Bedroom?" He questioned through their kissing after a few minutes passed and when she nodded, he slid both hands under her ass, easily picking her up off the counter.

Spencer wrapped her legs around his waist and broke the kiss for a moment. "First door on the right." She managed to get out through her ragged breathing before connection their lips again. "_This is wrong Spencer, you need to stop. He is getting married to another woman!" _ Her mind screamed as Toby carried her into the bedroom, kicking the door shut as he moved to lay her on the bed, positioning his body above her.

She could not stop; her body would not allow it. Every touch left her skin on fire, a feeling not even Wren could make happen. He was good in bed, but she never felt the way she was feeling right now with him, not once in all the years they were together. Kissing Toby, touching him, both were playing a dangerous game. They both knew their partners trusted them and right now, they were breaking that trust.

As Toby started to run his hand under Spencer's tank top, a loud ringing from his pocket broke the silence. With a groan, Toby pulled away from Spencer, reached in his pocket to retrieve the phone and quickly flipped it open. "Detective Cavanaugh speaking." The tone of his voice screamed business, but his eyes stayed locked to her own with a playful look to them, his hand moved back under her top, drawing circles on her well-toned abdomen. She smiled at him, and used her free hand to stop him tickling her stomach, while her other covered her mouth so he would not get in trouble on the phone.

"What's the address for the scene?" He questioned as he laced their fingers, raised their joined hands and smiled at how well they fit together. "Okay, I'll see you in ten." Slipping the phone back into his pocket, he shifted his body back over Spencer's and leaned down to kiss her neck. "I have to head out for work."

Spencer closed her eyes, savoring the feeling of his lips on her skin, letting out a low moan when he pulled away and scooted to the side of the bed. "Talk about a tease." She joked as she turned on her side, watching him stand up, her eyes trailing up and down his body.

"Yeah, sorry about that." He chuckled with a grin as he worked to button up his shirt. "Probably best that I got that phone call when I did, I don't think I would have been able to stop myself and I know we both would have regretted it afterwards." She could have sworn he sounded disappointed as he spoke.

Spencer nodded, she knew he was right, and silently thanked the gods for Toby getting that phone call when he did. Neither was available and the guilt of sleeping with Toby would have pushed her to a place she never wanted to see again.

"When is your next shift?" He asked pulling her out of her thoughts, noticing he was sitting on the side of the bed looking down at her.

"Monday night, you want me to save you a dance?" She grinned up at him, reaching for his hand; she loved the feeling their joined hands gave her. She felt connected to him again, as if the past seven years never happened.

"As tempting as that sounds..."His eyes moving from her face, down the rest of her body before looking back at her eyes. "We should just get together to talk."

"Sure, just meet me outside after my shift."

"Great, I'll see you Monday night." He smiled and raised their hands to his lips, kissing the back of her hand. "I'll let myself out, you go back to sleep, you look like you need it." He joked and laughed when she hit him in the arm.

"You're an asshole." She laughed. "Go on, get out of here and solve some cases detective. Night Toby."

Before getting up from the bed, he leaned down and gave Spencer a soft kiss. "Goodnight gorgeous." He whispered as he moved away and towards the door.

As the door slammed shut, Spencer shot up in her bed, breathing heavy and confused. "What the hell…" She spoke softly to herself as she looked around the room, her eyes settled on her clock and widened at the time that read, 7:34a. She did not even remember falling back asleep and as she was about to get out of bed, her eyes stopped a half-full glass of dark liquid next to the clock. Reaching over, she brought the glass to her nose and instantly frowned. "I guess dreaming wasn't the only thing I did last night." Sighing, she pushed herself off the bed and walked out of her room towards the kitchen.

She failed to notice Emily sitting in their living room with the paper resting on her lap, her hands nursing a hot cup of coffee. "Morning Spence." Emily's voice called, almost causing her to drop the glass to the floor.

"Jeez Em!" Spencer said as she raised one hand to her heart, the other placing the glass on the counter. "You scared the crap out of me. When did you get home?"

Emily laughed and tossed the paper on the coffee table before speaking. "An hour ago, Paige had work. Wasn't that a new bottle?" She asked pointing to the bottle that was next to Spencer's phone. "Rough night?"

Spencer shifted over to the empty bottle and picked it up surprised. "I guess you could say that." She said as she rested it back on the counter and grabbed her phone, opening up her message center, only to frown again when she saw that she had no messages from Toby. "_I can't believe that last night was a dream, it felt so real." _

"Spencer? Are you even listening to me?" Emily was standing in front of her, waving a hand in her face.

Spencer snapped back and slapped Emily's hand away. "I am now, what did you ask?"

"I asked what happened last night with you and Wren. I thought he was spending the night."

"So did I, until he got a call from the hospital and they needed him to go in for an emergency." Spencer debated on telling Emily about her dream, worried about the reaction she would have. "Em, I think Wren is going to ask me to marry him today."

"Are you serious? That's great!" Emily smiled excitedly but stopped when Spencer looked like she was going to have a break down. "Spence, what's wrong, isn't this what you wanted? Him home with you and the boys, having that family that you kept talking about, that next step."

"It is. Trust me, it is. I want my boys to finally have a family that has their parents together and living under the same roof." She trailed off playing with her phone case. "What if Wren isn't the one I'm supposed to be with. I don't want to commit to marrying someone just because they are the father of my children."

"Is this about Toby?"

"No…maybe…I don't know." She turned away from Emily, slamming her phone down on the counter. "I had a dream about Toby last night and now I'm just so confused on what I want. I know he is getting married and I have Wren but last night, that dream felt so real Emily. I swear I can still feel his lips on mine."

"Wow, Spencer Hastings having a sex dream about a married man, I never thought I'd see the day." Emily joked nudging her friend with her arm. "We all have dreams like that Spence, its normal that you would start now that he is back. You just cannot let it rule your life; otherwise, you will never be happy with anyone." Emily moved back towards the living room, leaving Spencer to her thoughts.

"_She is right. It was just a dream. I have Wren, I love him. I need move on from Toby and be happy."_ Her eyes shifted to her phone when she heard the familiar beeping of a new message sound. She moved her hand over the screen and opened the icon. The message was from Wren, saying he was on his way to pick her up.

With a sigh, she pushed away from the counter, leaving her phone behind and headed to the bathroom to get ready. Even if it was a dream, she did not intend to message Toby about their coffee date today, she figured after what happened at the party, he would not show up anyway.

Once in the bathroom, she turned on the shower and moved to stand in front of the sink as she waited for the water to heat. She looked over her body in the mirror and after finding nothing out of place, locked eyes with herself. "It was a dream. Nothing more than a dream, you have to let him go Spencer, move on." She said giving a small nod at the end of her pep talk. With a roll of her eyes, she softly laughed at how crazy she was acting about the situation and moved away from the sink to get undressed.

While under the stream of hot water, she hummed to herself as a distraction to stop herself from thinking of Toby. Instead, she thought about what her answer to Wren would be when he proposed. Would he do it while the boys where there so she would feel guilty about saying no? Would he wait until they were alone again at the apartment? She wondered what kind of ring he would give her.

"Spencer, Wren is here." Emily shouted from behind the closed door.

"Okay, I'll be right out!" She could not believe that time had gotten away from her and now hurried to wash her hair and body. A few minutes later, she was out and wrapping the towel around her body as she made her way out towards her room. "I just have to get changed and we can go Wren." She called to him as she walked into the bedroom.

Dropping the towel, she rushed to her dresser and pulled out a matching bra and panty set, slipping those on, she went across the room to find an outfit.

"Now that is a view I would love to see every day." Wren said with a huge grin. He was leaning against the doorframe and as she turned around to face him, pushed off and walked towards her. "If we didn't have to get the boys, I'd say you let me make up for leaving you all alone last night."

Spencer put on a grin of her own and put a hand up to push him back when his hands rested on her bare hips and tried to pull her close. "You had your chance mister, now you have to wait until tonight to do any making up that you owe. I have to finish getting ready, so out you go."

"You know how hard it is for me to let you get dressed right now looking the way you do. At least let me kiss you before you kick me out."

"Fine, one kiss, than out." She grinned as he quickly pressed his lips to her own. When he tried to deepen the kiss, she pulled away laughing. "Later, I promise. Now out before the kids send a search party for us."

Wren groaned with a smile, but back away, pointing a finger at her. "You owe me big time Spencer. See you in a few." He said as he shut the door when he left.

As the door closed, the grin fell from her face and a look of guilt replaced it. She felt nothing compared to the kiss she had shared with Toby in her dream. She did not feel the butterflies, or the fire that she had felt when Toby kissed her and touched her body.

"Today is going to be a very long day." She spoke aloud to herself and moved to finish getting dressed, as she did not want to keep Wren waiting any longer. She just hoped that when the time came to answer Wren, she will have moved passed this dream and be able to look forward to their future as a family.


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pretty Little Liars**.

* * *

**Chapter 12 was removed by the writer and a new chapter will be up within the next couple of days. Sorry for the inconvenience.**


	13. AN

**A/N: First off want to say sorry to my readers who got pissed or disgusted by the last chapter. It will be coming down after I post this note. It was never my intent to offend anyone. This IS a Spoby story and like I said before, it is a pleasure to read your comments, so thank you for letting me know that the chapter upset you. I just ask that you guys bare with me because I now have to come up with a different plot for this story and to be honest it might take me a few days before I post anything. The other two chapters (10 and 11) will not be changed. I am really happy how those two came out and I will fix the issue with Wren. Trust me guys, I HATE Wren and I hated writing that chapter as well. I put him in the story because my thinking is every great story has a character we all hate. His part in this story was never going to be long term. Please keep your ideas coming, if you have one that is drama based, please let me know. Once again, so sorry for upsetting anyone. **

**Also, Please understand that this story is classifed under Drama/Romance. Meaning I will be writing drama type story lines, the end game is that romance. My storys happen like I think they would in "real-life", so its going to take some chapters before Spoby is truly together. I dont have a goal on how many chapters it will take to get them there, because I really didnt give myself a chapter limit. So once again, I hope you all stick with me, this is a real Spoby and they will be together in the end, just let me work my magic and get them there. **

**-Mandi**


End file.
